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CONTACT
Andrew J. MacIntosh
Kyoto University Primate Research Institute
Section of Social Systems Evolution
Aichi, Inuyama, Kanrin 41-2
JAPAN 484-8506
Email me		 EDUCATION
2000 BSc - Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary
2002 MA - Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary
2010 PhD - Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University



PAST RESEARCH

 1999
Black howling monkey (Alouatta pigra) behaviour and ecology at Monkey River, Belize (Field School). Sorry, currently no photos available.
2000
Temple macaque (Macaca fascicularis) and human interactions
in the Padangtegal Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud, Bali
(Field School).



2000
Spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) juvenile rank relations at the Calgary Zoo (MacIntosh 2001).


2001
My MA research focused on encounters between groups of ursine black and white colobus monkeys (Colobus vellerosus) at the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, in central Ghana (Sicotte & MacIntosh 2004, MacIntosh & Sicotte In Prep).



 


2007
I joined a field school bound for the historic island of Koshima, Miyazaki prefecture, wherein Japanese field primatology saw its beginnings. I had the opportunity to test some of my field methodologies for the current project (see below).

 

   


CURRENT DIRECTIONS As a PhD candidate at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University, under the supervision of
Dr. Michael A. Huffman and in collaboration with Dr. Alex D. Hernandez, I am examining parasite ecology and the role
of diet and behaviour in the maintenance of health in Japanese macaques inhabiting the island of Yakushima -
yaku-macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui).

THE CONCEPT

With myriad parasites and pathogens affecting organisms in environments the world over, it is a
wonder that ecosystems are able to function at all. Locked in an evolutionary arms race with their
unseen foes, organisms are constantly pitched in battle for the ultimate gain: survival, and future
reproductive success. To this end, plants and animals have devised very different strategies to cope
with infection, in all its forms. Simply put, plants, on the one hand, have evolved to produce what we call secondary metabolites (SM), which are compounds not essential to growth and reproduction but function instead as a chemical defense mechanism against predation and disease. Animals, in contrast, have evolved with an immune system in place to fight off infectious agents in vivo. Furthermore, many behavioural adaptations have also evolved as a first line of defense in the fight against disease. One such adaptation involves the enlistment of plant SM when an animal ingests or applies plant material externally.

Perhaps the most famous examples of the use of plants in support of animal health - self-medication – come from studies of bitter-pith chewing and leaf swallowing in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in the Mahale mountains, Tanzania (see the C.H.I.M.P.P. group). These behaviours have been linked to the expulsion of nodular worms residing within the gastrointestinal tract of the host chimpanzees, and the plants utilized are also used ethnomedicinally by local humans for a similar purpose. Sticking with primates, capuchins (Cebus spp.) in Central and South America have often been observed to rub millipedes and ants over their bodies, the chemicals in which reportedly act as an insect repellent. The evidence is not restricted to primates. European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) are reported to exploit the chemical defenses of plants by lining their nests with fresh, green, aromatic plants rich in SM, allegedly to deter the establishment of parasite communities detrimental to chick development. In North America, indigenous people were informed of the medicinal properties of ‘Osha’ or ‘bear’ root (Ligusticum porteri) by observing sick bears digging it up. Furthermore, there are myriad documented cases of geophagy by many animal taxa, a behaviour often linked to self-medication in form. Indeed, there is a growing body of evidence suggestive of self-medication by animals in the wild.

Since pathogens negatively affect the survivability and/or reproductive capacity of the organisms they infect, the adaptive significance of such behaviours seems obvious. Still, in many cases, merely harbouring, for example, intestinal helminths is not always indicative of pathogenicity, as both host and parasite often coevolve in accommodation of one another. As a result, severe infestations may result in host mortality, and thus mass parasite mortality. Excessively low-level infestations, on the other hand, would likely have negligible effects on host populations but may be insufficient to sustain viable parasite populations long-term. Therefore, the optimal situation likely calls for a moderate infestation having only minor effects on host populations but still allowing for propagation of the parasite population. In such a scenario, the pathogenicity of infections can vary, and these variations can be in response to a number of environmental stimuli. This is where my research comes in.
Yours truly with a sub-adult female hitchhiker ("Rodeo"). Photo by Kanako Aida.

THE QUESTIONS

At the most basic level, I have three broad research questions that I hope to have answered during the course of the study:

  1. To what extent are individual yaku-macaques parasitized by intestinal nematodes?
  2. Does the behaviour of parasitized macaques differ from that of non-parasitized macaques?
  3. Do yaku-macaques exhibit behaviours which directly or indirectly affect levels of parasitic infection, and thus by extension have implications in health maintenance?

THE ISLAND

Yakushima is a mountainous island, with an area of roughly 500km2, much of which is protected either by the prefecture of Kagoshima or by virtue of being a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site (designated in 1993). Thus, though Japanese macaques continue to be listed on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species, those in most areas of Yakushima suffer relatively little human disturbance. However, outside of protected areas wherein macaques can occur nearby human settlements, many are hunted as a form of pest control to protect agricultural interests. Vegetation ranges from warm-temperate, broadleaf-evergreen forest near sea level to coniferous forest at altitudes above 1000m, the highest peak being at 1,935m. Annual rainfall ranges upwards of 4000mm, making it one of the wettest places on the planet. Yaku-macaques live at the southernmost geographic limit of the distribution of the species.

   
(above left to right) Male & female infants born in 2006. Adult male ("Dracula") taking in the breathtaking scenery of his range. Male infant observing the observer.
(below left to right) Monkey grooms deer. Monkey rides deer. Deer grooms monkey. Monkey and Deer kick back in good company. 
                 
**All Yakushima photos courtesy of Kanako Aida. Email Kana.

THE STUDY GROUP

I began fieldwork in Ocotober of 2007 with Umi group, which ranges in an area of the western-coastal forest from 0 to roughly 250 m in altitude, mainly between two rivers – Kawahara 1 and 2. The group is comprised of roughly 45 individuals, with a number of peripheral males exhibiting temporary associations with the group. Umi has been continuously observed by researchers only since 2005, contrasting them with other well-studied groups ranging nearer Nagata, wherein the research station lies, to the north. Some of these groups have been observed since the late 1970’s. Still, previous habituation efforts have been successful, and observations can generally take place within 5m of focal subjects while on the ground. The terrain is relatively flat in comparison to areas used by other study groups, though far from a stroll through the park, with its river gulleys and rocky ridges that need traversing. The vegetation is dominated by stands of mokutachibana (Ardisia seiboldii), yamamomo (Myrica rubra), kusunoki (Cinnamomum camphora), hamahisakaki (Eurya emarginata), and sendan (Melia azedarach).

THE WORMS

Yaku-macaques are known to harbour five species of intestinal helminth (Streptopharagus pigmentatus, Oesophagostomum aculeatum, Trichuris trichiura, Gongylonema pulchrum, and Strongyloides fulleborni). This is more than any other population of macaques in Japan, as parasite species richness tends to decrease moving northwards. Two of these nematodes are transmitted trophically, through the ingestion of a dung beetle intermediate host (S. pigmentatus and G. pulchrum), with the other three species utilizing the fecal-oral route.

THE DATA

While in the field, I have initiated a non-invasive health-monitoring regime in which I exercise four methodologies for data collection. Firstly, I collect behavioural data in the form of 60-minute focal-animal follows for all adult and subadult individuals in Umi group (~27 individuals). These data will be used to construct activity budgets and to examine the potential for a linkage between fluctuating asymmetries in behaviour and health status. I pay particularly close attention to dietary behaviours, recording them in detail. Second, visual veterinary inspections are made ad libitum in an attempt to catalog sick behaviours and classify individuals according to health status. In addition to these behavioural data, I also collect 2 fecal samples/individual/month, as well as urine samples ad libitum. Fecal samples are stored in 2ml cryogenic vials containing 10% buffered formalin and later analyzed for nematode eggs and protozoan cysts in the lab via a modified formalin-ethyl-acetate sedimentation or MGL protocol. Urine samples are suctioned in 2ml plastic pipettes from the surface of the road, rocks, leaves and branches, and analyzed soon thereafter with Uropaper III Eiken® multi-reagent test strips for 10 urine chemistry parameters: pH, specific gravity (USG), haemoglobin, leukocyte esterase, nitrites, ketones, proteins, glucose, bilirubin and urobilinogen.


In the near future, I plan to conduct bioassays for the general toxicity of different plant aqueous extracts against two of the five nematodes found to infect yaku-macaques. I aim to begin culturing O. aculeatum and S. fulleborni from fresh feces using a method developed by our collaborator, Hasegawa Hideo of Oita University. Extracts will be prepared from collected plants and the toxicity of each will be evaluated against the juvenile stages of the worms. Plants exhibiting positive test results will be subject to further examination for bioactive properties and modes of action.

CURRICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION (see above)

FIELD EXPERENCE

2007-9   Parasite ecology and the role of diet and behaviour in health maintenance in Yakushima macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui). October 2007-September 2009. PhD research, Yakushima, Japan.

2007       A pilot study of health monitoring of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). July 2007. Kyoto University Primate Research Institute field school. Koshima, Japan.

2001     Inter-group encounters in Geoffroy’s pied colobus monkeys (Colobus vellerosus). June-November 2001. MA research, Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Nkoranza District, Ghana.

2000     Temple macaque (Macaca fascicularis) behaviour and human-macaque interaction. July-August 2000. Central Washington University Balinese Macaque Project Field School, Bali, Indonesia.

1999     Behaviour and ecology of black howling monkeys (Alouatta pigra). May 1999. University of Calgary Field School in Monkey River, Belize.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2003-6  English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Teacher. Tokyo, Japan.

2001       Field Assistant – Anthropology 552/553, Field Primatology in Ghana, University of Calgary

2001     Teaching Assistant - Anthropology 311, Primate Behaviour, University of Calgary.

2000     Teaching Assistant - Anthropology 203, Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Calgary

SCHOLARSHIPS/AWARDS

2007-10 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Monbukagakusho), Japan

2002     Graduate Research Scholarship (GRS), Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary

2001-2  Thesis Research Grant (TRG), University Research Grants Committee (URGC), University of Calgary

2001     Province of Alberta Graduate Scholarship (PAGS), Alberta, Canada 

2000     GSA Conference Fund, Graduate Students Association, University of Calgary

2000     Conference Travel Grant, Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary

REFEREED ARTICLES

2004. Sicotte, P. and A. J. MacIntosh. Inter-group encounters and male incursions in C. vellerosus in Central Ghana. Behaviour 141 (5): 533-553. 

2001. MacIntosh. A. J. J. Rank Relations in Two Captive Juvenile Male Black-handed Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi): A Case Study. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 40(2):1-4. 

BOOK CHAPTERS

2008. Hernandez, A. D., A. J. MacIntosh and M. A. Huffman (In Press). Primate parasite ecology: patterns and predictions from an on-going study of Japanese macaques. In: Primate parasite ecology: the dynamics of host-parasite relationhips. M. A. Huffman and C. A. Chapman (eds.). Cambridge University Press.

MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION

2008. MacIntosh, A. J. and P. Sicotte (In Prep). Vigilance and conspecific threat in a group of ursine black and white colobus monkeys (Colobus vellerosus).

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2007. MacIntosh, A. and P. Sicotte. Vigilance cues to the nature of resource competition between groups: the case for Colobus vellerosus in central Ghana. The 22nd Congress of the Primate Society of Japan.

2002. Saj, T., J. Teichrob, A. MacIntosh and P. Sicotte. Influence of Between Group Encounters and Group Size on the Ranging Behavior of Geoffroy’s Pied Colobus at Boabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, Ghana. The 25th Meeting of the American Society of Primatologists.

2002. MacIntosh, A. Between-group Encounters in Geoffroy’s Pied Colobus Monkey (Colobus vellerosus): Tribal Warfare of the Skunk Monkey. Calgary Primate Seminar #3.

2001. Reid, M. and A. MacIntosh. Eat Two Leaves and Call Me in the Morning: Primate Zoopharmacognosy, Fact or Fiction? The Anthropology, Physical Anthropology, Linguistics and Archaeology (APALA) undergraduate and graduate conference.

2001. MacIntosh, A. Between-group Conflict in Black and White Colobus Monkeys (Colobus vellerosus). Calgary Primate Seminar #2.

2000. MacIntosh, A. J. J. Rank Relations in Two Captive Juvenile Male Black-handed Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi): A Case Study. Canadian Association for Physical Anthropology (CAPA) Annual Conference.