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Significance The cheetah is a prominent example for human–carnivore conflicts and mitigation challenges. Its global population suffered a substantial decline throughout its range. Here, we present an in-depth and new understanding of the socio-spatial organization of the cheetah. We show that cheetahs maintain a network of communication hubs distributed in a regular pattern across the landscape, not contiguous with each other and separated by a surrounding matrix. Cheetahs spend a substantial amount of their time in these hubs, resulting in high local cheetah activity, which represents a high local predation risk for livestock. Implementing this knowledge, farmers were able to reduce livestock losses by 86%., Human–wildlife conflicts occur worldwide. Although many nonlethal mitigation solutions are available, they rarely use the behavioral ecology of the conflict species to derive effective and long-lasting solutions. Here, we use a long-term study with 106 GPS-collared free-ranging cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to demonstrate how new insights into the socio-spatial organization of this species provide the key for such a solution. GPS-collared territory holders marked and defended communication hubs (CHs) in the core area of their territories. The CHs/territories were distributed in a regular pattern across the landscape such that they were not contiguous with each other but separated by a surrounding matrix. They were kept in this way by successive territory holders, thus maintaining this overdispersed distribution. The CHs were also visited by nonterritorial cheetah males and females for information exchange, thus forming hotspots of cheetah activity and presence. We hypothesized that the CHs pose an increased predation risk to young calves for cattle farmers in Namibia. In an experimental approach, farmers shifted cattle herds away from the CHs during the calving season. This drastically reduced their calf losses by cheetahs because cheetahs did not follow the herds but instead preyed on naturally occurring local wildlife prey in the CHs. This implies that in the cheetah system, there are “problem areas,” the CHs, rather than “problem individuals.” The incorporation of the behavioral ecology of conflict species opens promising areas to search for solutions in other conflict species with nonhomogenous space use.

We assessed the occurrence, genetic diversity, and zoonotic potential of four protozoan (Cryptosporidium spp., Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba dispar, Giardia duodenalis), one stramenopile (Blastocystis sp.), one microsporidia (Enterocytozoon bieneusi), and two ciliate (Balantioides coli, Troglodytella abrassarti) intestinal parasite or commensal protist species in captive non-human primates (NHP) and their zookeepers from six European zoological gardens in France (n = 1), Germany (n = 1), and Spain (n = 4). Faecal samples from NHP (n = 454) belonging to 63 species within 35 genera and humans (n = 70) were collected at two sampling periods in each participating institution between October 2018-August 2021. Detection and species identification was accomplished by PCR and Sanger sequencing of the ssu rRNA and/or ITS genes. Sub-genotyping analyses using specific markers were conducted on isolates positive for G. duodenalis (gdh, bg, tpi) and Cryptosporidium spp. (gp60). Overall, 41.0% (186/454) and 30.0% (21/70) of the faecal samples of NHP and human origin tested positive for at least one intestinal protist species, respectively. In NHP, Blastocystis sp. was the most prevalent protist species found (20.3%), followed by G. duodenalis (18.1%), E. dispar (7.9%), B. coli and T. abrassarti (1.5% each), and Cryptosporidium spp. and E. bieneusi (0.9% each). Occurrence rates varied largely among NHP host species, sampling periods, and zoological institutions. The predominant protist species found in humans was Blastocystis sp. (25.7%), followed by Cryptosporidium spp. (2.9%), E. dispar (1.4%), and G. duodenalis (1.4%). Sequencing of PCR-positive amplicons in human and/or NHP confirmed the presence of Cryptosporidium in six isolates (C. hominis: 66.7%, C. parvum: 33.3%), G. duodenalis in 18 isolates (assemblage A: 16.7%, assemblage B: 83.3%), Blastocystis in 110 isolates (ST1:38.2%, ST2:11.8%, ST3: 18.2%, ST4: 9.1%, ST5: 17.3%, ST8: 2.7%, ST13: 0.9%), and E. bieneusi in four isolates (CM18: 75.0%, Type IV: 25.0%). Zoonotic transmission events involving Blastocystis ST1–ST4 were identified in four zoological institutions. Zoonotic transmission of C. hominis was highly suspected, but not fully demonstrated, in one of them. Monitoring of intestinal protist species might be useful for assessing health status of captive NHP and their zookeepers, and to identify transmission pathways of faecal-orally transmitted pathogens.

In mammals, the sex hormone testosterone is the major endocrine variable to objectify testicular activity and thus reproductive function in males. Testosterone is involved in the development and function of male reproductive physiology and sex-related behaviour. The development of a reliable androgen enzyme-immunoassay (EIA) to monitor faecal testosterone metabolites (fTM) is a powerful tool to non-invasively assess the gonadal status of males. We validated an epiandrosterone EIA for male cheetahs by performing a testosterone radiometabolism study followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analyses and excluding possible cross-reactivities with androgenic metabolites not derived from testosterone metabolism. The physiological and biological relevance of the epiandrosterone EIA was validated by demonstrating (1) a significant increase in fTM concentrations within one day in response to a testosterone injection, (2) a significant increase in fTM concentrations within one day in response to a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) injection, which failed following a placebo injection, and (3) significant differences in fTM concentrations between adult male and adult female cheetahs and between adult and juvenile male cheetahs of a free-ranging population. Finally, we demonstrated stability of fTM concentrations measured in faecal samples exposed to ambient temperatures up to 72h. Our results clearly demonstrate that the epiandrosterone EIA is a reliable non-invasive method to monitor testicular activity in male cheetahs.