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Passive acoustic monitoring is a wildlife monitoring method used especially for the study of vocally active species which are difficult to observe directly. The tawny owl (Strix aluco, Linnaeus 1758) is such a species, and has not been previously studied in Greece. The aim of the study was to provide a first insight into the species’ acoustic ecology in the Rhodope Mountains by describing its calling activity at four sites over a period of 3–6 months, and to examine possible correlation with natural and climatic parameters. Based on 24,937 calls, we report a significant increase in the number of calls per night (18:00 pm to 9:00 am) as the length of the night increased, as well as a negative relation with wind speed. We did not observe a relationship between calling frequency and the phase of the moon.

Overhunting and habitat loss from the expansion of agriculture and extractive industries are the primary threats to primate species, 65% of which are threatened with extinction. In Africa, red colobus (Piliocolobus spp.) are the most endangered group of monkeys due to their vulnerability to these human pressures. The conservation status of the Critically Endangered Preuss’s red colobus (P. preussi), found in southeastern Nigeria and western Cameroon, is not well understood, impeding conservation efforts. We reviewed historical records and recent data on the distribution and abundance of Preuss’s red colobus to assess the species’ population status and provide recommendations for its conservation. Preuss’s red colobus has historically been found in two widely separated populations: one in the contiguous transboundary forests of Nigeria’s Cross River National Park (Oban) and Cameroon’s Korup National Park, and the other in Cameroon’s Ebo–Makombe–Ndokbou forests. Today, Preuss’s red colobus is mostly restricted to Korup and Oban and has largely disappeared from the Ebo–Makombe–Ndokbou forests. Systematic surveys indicate that the population in Korup, where Preuss’s red colobus reaches its highest density, has declined over the last 30 years with possibly 3290–4430 red colobus monkeys remaining. Improving protection of the Korup–Oban population, through improved law enforcement, transboundary conservation, ecological monitoring, and engagement with adjacent local communities, is essential to secure the long-term survival of Preuss’s red colobus. Locating and protecting remnant groups in other forests is also urgently needed. Protecting Preuss’s red colobus will help safeguard some of West Africa’s largest remaining intact forests and other threatened wildlife species.

In the face of a growing human footprint, understanding interactions among threatened large carnivores is fundamental to effectively mitigating anthropogenic threats and managing species. Using data from a large-scale camera trap survey, we investigated the effects of environmental and anthropogenic variables on the interspecific interaction of a carnivore guild comprising of tiger, leopard and dhole in Bhutan. We demonstrate the complex effects of human settlement density on large carnivore interactions. Specifically, we demonstrate that leopard–dhole co-occupancy probability was higher in areas with higher human settlement density. The opposite was true for tiger–leopard co-occupancy probability, but it was positively affected by large prey (gaur) abundance. These findings suggest that multi-carnivore communities across land-use gradients are spatially structured and mediated also by human presence and/or the availability of natural prey. Our findings show that space-use patterns are driven by a combination of the behavioural mechanism of each species and its interactions with competing species. The duality of the effect of settlement density on species interactions suggests that the benefits of exploiting anthropogenic environments are a trade-off between ecological opportunity (food subsidies or easy prey) and the risk of escalating conflict with humans.

There has been little research on the distribution and ecology of the four dormouse species occurring in Greece; the Edible Dormouse (Glis glis), Forest Dormouse (Dryomys nitedula), Hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) and Mouse-tailed Dormouse (Myomimus roachi). As a result, the latter three species are listed as data deficient (DD) in the National Red Data Book. Recently, the government has tried to address this knowledge gap, funding dormouse surveys within the Natura 2000 network. In this context, we used a combination of nest-tubes (n=442) and track-tunnels (n=238) to study dormouse distribution and habitat use across 37 sites representing different habitat types (with varying levels of grazing) of two mountainous N2K sites (GR1270001, GR1270005) in central Macedonia. We detected G. glis at 28 sites, D. nitedula at 32 sites, and M. avellanarius at seven sites. Positive identification of the different species was twice as likely in track-tunnels (unbaited; metal sheets covered in soot) than nest-tubes. We estimated relative abundance across sites using Royle-Nichols occupancy models, except for M. avellanarius due to data limitations. For all species, we examined habitat use using MaxEnt ecological-niche models. Our findings show that D. nitedula has the widest distribution, occurring even in sparse forests and maqui with moderate or high livestock grazing intensity. G. glis is common, but restricted to medium-high elevation forests. M. avellanarius appears to have a discontinuous distribution. If this study is representative of its status across the country, that species requires conservation efforts.

Hybridisation between domestic and wild taxa can pose severe threats to wildlife conservation, and human-induced hybridisation, often linked to species' introductions and habitat degradation, may promote reproductive opportunities between species for which natural interbreeding would be highly unlikely. Using a biome-specific approach, we examine the effects of a suite of ecological drivers on the European wildcat's genetic integrity, while assessing the role played by protected areas in this process. We used genotype data from 1217 putative European wildcat samples from 13 European countries to assess the effects of landcover, disturbance and legal landscape protection on the European wildcat's genetic integrity across European biomes, through generalised linear models within a Bayesian framework. Overall, we found European wildcats to have genetic integrity levels above the wildcat-hybrid threshold (ca. 83%; threshold = 80%). However, Mediterranean and Temperate Insular biomes (i.e., Scotland) revealed lower levels, with 74% and 46% expected genetic integrity, respectively. We found that different drivers shape the level of genetic introgression across biomes, although forest integrity seems to be a common factor promoting European wildcat genetic integrity. Wildcat genetic integrity remains high, regardless of landscape legal protection, in biomes where populations appear to be healthy and show recent local range expansions. However, in biomes more susceptible to hybridisation, even protected areas show limited effectiveness in mitigating this threat. In the face of the detected patterns, we recommend that species conservation and management plans should be biome- and landscape-context-specific to ensure effective wildcat conservation, especially in the Mediterranean and Temperate Insular biomes., Thanks are due to FCT/MCTES for the financial support to cE3c (UIDB/00329/2020), through national funds, and the co-funding by the FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and Compete 2020. PM was supported by UID/BIA/50027/2021 with funding from FCT/MCTES through national funds. FDR was supported by a postdoctoral contract from the University of Málaga (I Plan Propio de Investigación y Transferencia, call 2020). This study was partly funded by research projects CGL2009-10741, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and EU-FEDER, and OAPN 352/2011, funded by the Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales (Spain). Luxembourg sample collection has been co-funded by the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development of Luxembourg. We would like to thank the Bavarian Forest National Park Administration for the approval and support in collecting samples.

The Forest Dormouse, Dryomys nitedula, has a wide geographic distribution, from Switzerland in the west, through eastern and southern Europe, Asia Minor and the Caucasus, to central Russia, central Asia and Mongolia in the east. Previous phylogenetic studies revealed highly divergent lineages in some part of the distribution, suggesting that the history of the species might be complex and a revision of the taxonomy might be warranted. In order to clarify the status of the subspecies identified in previous studies, we increased the current Genbank dataset (n=106) by analyzing >150 samples from Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, and Greece. Preliminary phylogenetic analyses, based on cytochrome b, show the presence of five super lineages with two highly divergent lineages in Iran and Russia. These preliminary results will be completed by additional samples from Mongolia and Afghanistan. This study should help shed light on the evolutionary history of this species across its distribution.

Conflict with humans and habitat fragmentation are major threats to large carnivores in Africa, and transboundary protected areas may ease some of the space requirements for individual countries. The W-Arly-Pendjari complex (WAP) in West Africa sits across Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger and is the last regional stronghold for many species, including the regionally critically endangered lion (Panthera leo). However, variation in monitoring efforts, limited resources, and imperfect coordination confound their conservation. We demonstrate a cost-effective and scalable design to effectively identify the landscape-level factors that limit the distribution and abundance of large carnivores and their preferred prey. We used an occupancy framework for a combination of spoor and line transect data. We found a high degree of variation in prey density, strongly related to evapotranspiration. Lion occupancy increased in areas of high riparian forest cover, far from hunting concessions and with more pastoralist activities. Hyaena occupancy was inversely related to anthropogenic pressures, and positively related to dense vegetation and overall prey density. We discuss conservation challenges such as illegal hunting and grazing in the context of transboundary management.

The Balkan populations of the European wildcat are among the least studied. This study reports the first findings on the spatial ecology and activity pattern of the wildcat in Greece and compares them to those of better studied northern populations. We fitted five wildcats (two males, three females) with collars containing GPS and accelerometer loggers (E-obs 1A) and collected data from fall to early summer. All animals moved within a mosaic of lowland agricultural fields, woodland patches, riparian forests and wetlands near the banks of a lake. The trapping rate was the highest reported for the species. The home range sizes, estimated using Brownian bridge movement models, ranged from 0.94 to 3.08 km2 for females and from 1.22 to 4.43 km2 for males. Based on overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) values estimated from the accelerometer data, the diel activity of male wildcats followed the species’ typical nocturnal pattern with crepuscular peaks. Female activity varied seasonally, at times being cathemeral. We found only weak effects of environmental variables on wildcat activity, and no significant difference in the activity in open versus forested areas. Our findings suggest that human modified landscapes can play a significant role in the conservation of this typically forest-associated species.

Hybridisation between wild taxa and their domestic congeners is a significant conservation issue. Domestic species frequently outnumber their wild relatives in population size and distribution and may therefore genetically swamp the native species. The European wildcat (Felis silvestris) has been shown to hybridise with domestic cats (Felis catus). Previously suggested spatially divergent introgression levels have not been confirmed on a European scale due to significant differences in the applied methods to assess hybridisation of the European wildcat. We analysed 926Felisspp. samples from 13 European countries, using a set of 86 selected ancestry-informative SNPs, 14 microsatellites, and ten mitochondrial and Y-chromosome markers to study regional hybridisation and introgression patterns and population differentiation. We detected 51 hybrids (four F1 and 47 F2 or backcrosses) and 521 pure wildcats throughout Europe. The abundance of hybrids varied considerably among studied populations. All samples from Scotland were identified as F2 hybrids or backcrosses, supporting previous findings that the genetic integrity of that wildcat population has been seriously compromised. In other European populations, low to moderate levels of hybridisation were found, with the lowest levels being in Central and Southeast Europe. The occurrence of distinct maternal and paternal markers between wildcat and domestic cat suggests that there were no severe hybridisation episodes in the past. The overall low (

The Evros delta is one of the most important wetlands for wintering waterfowl in Greece and the most popular among waterfowl hunters. This study addresses hunting activity and harvest while also investigating the relationship between weather conditions and hunting activity to suggest ways of improving waterfowl management. We counted wintering waterfowl and hunter numbers, and conducted hunter bag surveys during December–February over four hunting seasons. We calculated a 10-day goose and duck Preferential Shooting Index (PSI), which is the ratio of observed number of shot birds to the number of birds expected to have been shot if the birds were shot in proportion to their availability. Common Teal, Mallard and Greater White-fronted Goose were the most abundant species both in the field and in hunter bags. The mean number of hunters/day was 99.9, with each one shooting on average 2.5 birds/day. The overall waterfowl harvested accounted for 1.3% of the total waterfowl population. For geese this proportion was six times higher (8.7%), while for ducks alone and protected species was 1.2% and 1.4% respectively. Geese were shot more often than expected (PSI 6.55), while ducks and protected species were shot according to their availability (PSI 0.86 and 1.02, respectively). Wind speed, precipitation and geese number in the field were the best predictors of overall harvest and number of hunters. To reduce goose overshooting and the probability of protected species being accidentally shot, we suggest habitat management actions for the geese feeding areas and hunters’ awareness raising.

SummaryPassive acoustic monitoring is rapidly gaining recognition as a practical, affordable and robust tool for measuring gun hunting levels within protected areas, and consequently for its potential to evaluate anti-poaching patrols’ effectiveness based on outcome (i.e., change in hunting pressure) rather than effort (e.g., kilometres patrolled) or output (e.g., arrests). However, there has been no report to date of a protected area successfully using an acoustic grid to explore baseline levels of gun hunting activity, adapting its patrols in response to the evidence extracted from the acoustic data and then evaluating the effectiveness of the new patrol strategy. We report here such a case in Cameroon’s Korup National Park, where anti-poaching patrol effort was markedly increased in the 2015–2016 Christmas/New Year holiday season to curb the annual peak in gunshots recorded by a 12-sensor acoustic grid in the same period during the previous 2 years. Despite a three- to five-fold increase in patrol days, distance and area covered, the desired outcome – lower gun hunting activity – was not achieved under the new patrol scheme. The findings emphasize the need for adaptive wildlife law enforcement and how passive acoustic monitoring can help attain this goal, and they warn about the risks of using effort-based metrics of anti-poaching strategies as a surrogate for desired outcomes. We propose ways of increasing protected areas’ capacity to adopt acoustic grids as a law enforcement monitoring tool.

The media widely covers large carnivores and their impacts on human livelihood and plays an important role in their conservation. Yet, we know little about how species identity affects news selection, framing, accuracy and information flow. We investigated the online coverage of two cases of attacks or alleged attacks on humans alternatingly attributed to wolves and dogs in Greece and Germany. The period during which wolves were considered the primary suspects for the attacks was covered by up to two times more articles than when dogs were suspected. Wolves were presented as more likely suspects for the attacks than dogs, and wolf articles contained more inaccuracies measured as title-text mismatches. Press agencies played a significant role in the selection and dissemination of wolf news. We suggest that conservation scientists, journalists and policy makers work together to ensure an accurate representation in the media of human–carnivore coexistence and its challenges.

Recently, feline cardio-pulmonary nematodes have attracted high scientific interest, as they are increasingly reported from various areas. Most of these parasites have similar transmission patterns and/or host reservoirs, thus they may affect domestic and wild felids living in sympatry. In the present study, a case of multiple cardio-pulmonary parasitism in co-infection with other parasites in a European wildcat is presented. The animal, found exhausted, was hospitalised for recovery and parasitological, haematological, clinical and imaging examinations were performed. The parasitological examinations revealed 4 cardio-pulmonary nematodes, i.e. Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, Troglostrongylus brevior, Eucoleus aerophilus, Angiostrongylus chabaudi, 3 intestinal parasites, i.e. Toxocara cati, ancylostomatids, Cystoisospora felis, 2 haemoparasites, i.e. Hepatozoon felis and elements morphologically compatible with small Babesia/Cytauxzoon spp., and Ixodes ricinus and Haemaphysalis erinacei ticks. Treatment with a spot-on formulation containing imidacloprid 10% and moxidectin 1% (Advocate® spot-on solution for cats, Bayer) was decided and follow-up faecal examinations were performed until the release of the animal. By the end of the hospitalisation, all metazoan endoparasites were no longer detectable in faecal examinations, with the exception of a low number of A. abstrusus larvae. Thus, the animal was released after a second treatment with the same product. This is the first description of an apparently successful treatment of multiple cardio-respiratory parasitosis in a naturally infected wildcat showing compatible clinical signs. The evidence that Advocate® may be effective against A. chabaudi could be useful for treating infected, hospitalised, wildcats and it is promising in the case A. chabaudi infection will spread to domestic cats in a near future.

The populations of many endangered species are becoming increasingly fragmented, and accurate, current information on the status of these subpopulations is essential for the design of effective conservation strategies within a human-dominated landscape. The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) is one of the most spectacular and endangered primates in Africa, yet up-to-date information on its distribution, population status, and conservation outlook is lacking. Cameroon has been estimated to encompass 80 % of the species’ range. We examined the distribution, population status, and conservation outlook for the drill throughout its historic range in Cameroon. To do this, we divided the historic range of the drill in Cameroon (46,000 km2) into 52 survey units along natural and manmade boundary features. Based on a series of field surveys in 2002–2009, village interviews, analysis of geospatial data, and bibliographical research, we assigned each survey unit a rank of 0–4 for 15 parameters indicative of current situation for drills, habitat suitability, and conservation outlook. We obtained direct evidence for the presence of drills in 16 of the 52 survey units, with those of Ejagham, Korup, Ebo, and Nta Ali receiving the highest index scores. We warn of local extirpations and increased isolation among drill populations due to loss of dispersal corridors, e.g., Douala Edea survey unit. In some cases drills persist in forest fragments within human-dominated landscapes, e.g., Kupe-Manenguba, but the species’ future is probably dependent on effective wildlife management in a handful of isolated strongholds where probability of long-term protection is higher, particularly in Korup National Park, Takamanda National Park, and the proposed Ebo National Park. Pressure from current and proposed large-scale commercial plantations, oil prospecting, logging, and the continual human population growth in this region means that a concerted conservation effort will be needed to safeguard the remaining drill habitat if the species is to survive in Cameroon.

It is difficult to predict how current climate change will affect wildlife species adapted to a tropical rainforest environment. Understanding how population dynamics fluctuated in such species throughout periods of past climatic change can provide insight into this issue. The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) is a large-bodied rainforest adapted mammal found in West Central Africa. In the middle of this endangered monkey's geographic range is Lake Barombi Mbo, which has a well-documented palynological record of environmental change that dates to the Late Pleistocene. We used a Bayesian coalescent-based framework to analyze 2,076 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA across wild drill populations to infer past changes in female effective population size since the Late Pleistocene. Our results suggest that the drill underwent a nearly 15-fold demographic collapse in female effective population size that was most prominent during the Mid Holocene (approximately 3-5 Ka). This time period coincides with a period of increased dryness and seasonality across Africa and a dramatic reduction in forest coverage at Lake Barombi Mbo. We believe that these changes in climate and forest coverage were the driving forces behind the drill population decline. Furthermore, the warm temperatures and increased aridity of the Mid Holocene are potentially analogous to current and future conditions faced by many tropical rainforest communities. In order to prevent future declines in population size in rainforest-adapted species such as the drill, large tracts of forest should be protected to both preserve habitat and prevent forest loss through aridification.

Hunting for wild meat is pervasive in Afrotropical forests and often the primary threat to large-bodied mammals even within protected areas, the effectiveness of which (at reducing hunting) is correlated with law enforcement efforts, especially anti-poaching patrols. However, although tropical protected areas are critically underfunded and law enforcement accounts for a substantial proportion of their budgets, few have mechanisms in place to evaluate and adaptively adjust anti-poaching strategies based on robust field evidence.

Context Mitigating wolf–livestock conflict is crucial for both wolf (Canis lupus) conservation and livestock farming. Wolf attacks at livestock gathering areas often result in surplus killing, severe economic losses and emotional distress for the farmers, and financial claims from compensation funds. They may also trigger retaliatory killing of wolves. One method for reducing attacks on gathered livestock is the fladry fence, a primary repellent based on wolf neophobia. Fladry, used mainly in North America, remains largely untested in southern Europe. Aims To test the effectiveness of fladry corrals at excluding wild wolves from experimental feeding sites and discuss their potential for protecting livestock in human-dominated landscapes. Methods We tested the repelling efficiency of fladry corrals at six stations baited with livestock remains close to the homesites of three wild-wolf packs in central-northern Greece. Using infrared cameras, we recorded approaching and feeding rates of wolves, brown bears and wild boars attracted to the baits, before and during fladry use. Key results The feeding rate of all wolf packs reduced to zero during fladry use. Effective repelling lasted from 23 to 157 days and ended with the removal of fladry. Wolf approaches also reduced by 75%. Modelling of wolf-approach levels showed fladry effect to be stronger when using a less attractive bait and weaker as pre-baiting duration or wolves’ pre-exposure time to fladry increased. Fladry also significantly reduced the overall feeding rates of wild boars, whereas repellence of brown bears was poor. Key conclusions Fladry can be a cost-effective tool to exclude wolves from small-sized corrals, for weeks or months. It may also be useful for repelling wild boar. We recommend further testing with live-prey at the regional scale with standardised protocols. Implications Fladry installation at farms should take into account livestock attractiveness and wolf habituation. Fladry efficiency and deterrence duration can be improved when it is combined with other livestock protection methods. Wolf habituation to fladry can be reduced by deploying it primarily in high-risk depredation areas. Moreover, deployment soon after an attack could prevent wolves from associating specific farms with being sources of prey.

The contribution of primates to the seed rain in tropical forests has been long recognized, and there is evidence that these services are not compensated for by other frugivores in the event of primate extirpations. Given the vulnerability of large rainforest frugivores to hunting and the crisis dimensions that commercial hunting is taking in much of tropical Africa, studies on the seed handling of terrestrial cercopithecine primates are especially timely and needed in order to understand their role in maintaining plant community dynamics. Unlike arboreal species, terrestrial primates handle seeds at the post-dispersal stage of fruits and their populations are among the first to decline due to hunting pressure. We analyzed, for the first time, the year-round seed handling of the drill Mandrillus leucophaeus, an endangered terrestrial primate, by examining feeding remains and feces collected over 3284 km of patrols in Korup National Park, Cameroon. Drills defecated intact 110 seeds of diverse plant, fruit and seed traits primarily during periods of fruit abundance, and increased their seed predation during the pronounced fruit-scarce dry season. Considering the drill's diverse fruit diet, ground foraging, long day ranges and seed handling, we suggest that forest-dwelling terrestrial cercopithecines differ in their impact on seed deposition patterns compared with sympatric arboreal primates. Our findings emphasize the need to better assess the impact of terrestrial cercopithecines on plant community dynamics in Africa, warn of potential ecological process disruptions in the event of their extirpation and make a case for rethinking primate conservation priorities so that they do not only reflect a species' dire population status but also the impact its loss would entail for the ecosystem.

Context: Livestock predation by tiger and leopard in Bhutan is a major threat to the conservation of these felids. Conflict mitigation planning would benefit from an improved understanding of the spatial pattern of livestock kills by the two predators. Objectives: We aimed to identify the landscape features that predict livestock kills by tiger and leopard throughout Bhutan. Our goals were to: (1) identify the predictors that have the largest influence in determining livestock kills, (2) assess the influence of scale across the different predictors evaluated and identify the scale at which each was most important. Methods: We used livestock kills obtained from compensation records of tiger (n = 326) and leopard (n = 377) across Bhutan between 2003 and 2012 to run predation risk models with MaxEnt algorithm, using a multi-scale modeling approach (1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 km). Results: Human-presence (density of settlements and roads) and land-cover (percentage of tree cover and meadow patches) were the main variables contributing to livestock kills by both species. Livestock kills were likely driven by a trade-off between livestock density and predator ecology, and the balance of this trade-off varied with scale. Risk maps revealed different hotspots for tiger and leopard kills, and analysis showed both species preferentially killed equids over other livestock types. Conclusions: Our results highlight the importance of evaluating scale when investigating the spatial attributes of livestock kills by tiger and leopard. Our findings provide guidance for reducing conflict between humans and large felids throughout the country.

It is difficult to predict how current climate change will affect wildlife species adapted to a tropical rainforest environment. Understanding how population dynamics fluctuated in such species throughout periods of past climatic change can provide insight into this issue. The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) is a large-bodied rainforest adapted mammal found in West Central Africa. In the middle of this endangered monkey's geographic range is Lake Barombi Mbo, which has a well-documented palynological record of environmental change that dates to the Late Pleistocene. We used a Bayesian coalescent-based framework to analyze 2,076 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA across wild drill populations to infer past changes in female effective population size since the Late Pleistocene. Our results suggest that the drill underwent a nearly 15-fold demographic collapse in female effective population size that was most prominent during the Mid Holocene (approximately 3-5 Ka). This time period coincides with a period of increased dryness and seasonality across Africa and a dramatic reduction in forest coverage at Lake Barombi Mbo. We believe that these changes in climate and forest coverage were the driving forces behind the drill population decline. Furthermore, the warm temperatures and increased aridity of the Mid Holocene are potentially analogous to current and future conditions faced by many tropical rainforest communities. In order to prevent future declines in population size in rainforest-adapted species such as the drill, large tracts of forest should be protected to both preserve habitat and prevent forest loss through aridification.

Studies of polyspecific associations among African forest primates have primarily focused on arboreal Cercopithecus and Procolobus/Colobus species. We examined the association frequency of the terrestrial drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) with six sympatric monkey species in Korup National Park, Cameroon, testing reports that Mandrillus associations are infrequent and transient. We conducted 3,284 km of trail walks for 12 months (February–June 2006; July 2007 to January 2008), recording species composition in 612 primate clusters. Using a Markov chain Monte Carlo test, we compared the observed frequency of dyadic associations against null models of “no association.” A novel conservative statistical approach which addresses possible dependence of observations close in time was also used, further strengthening confidence in our findings. Drills associated with all monkeys throughout the study period, and were with at least one other species (range 1–5) in half of the encounters. The association frequency of drills with red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus) was greater than expected by chance, which is interesting given the morphological adaptation of the Mandrillus-Cercocebus clade for the exploitation of the same dietary niche, hard seeds. The difference we observed in the use of forest strata by drills and mangabeys may reflect a strategy to reduce food competition while in association. The nature and duration of observed drill associations varied. Although some associations seemed to be chance encounters, others lasted for hours with the involved species foraging together. Am. J. Primatol. 73:127–134, 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

We report preliminary findings on drill population ecology, feeding ecology, primate associations and conservation status in Korup National Park, Cameroon, based on analysis of data collected during 1,346 km (620 field hours) of trail patrols from February to June 2006. We encountered drills on 25 occasions and collected 304 fecal samples. Group size was estimated on four occasions (Z25, Z40, Z67, Z77), and multiple males were heard emitting the characteristic two-phase grunt of mature male drills in two of these groups. We saw a solitary male drill once. Examination of fecal samples indicated a seasonally variable diet consisting mainly of seeds, fruit pith, leaves and insects (especially ants and termites). Irvingia gabonensis and Musanga cecropioides fruits showed the highest percentage of occurrence in May (96%) and March (75%) samples, respectively, and could be a major food source for drills at that time. Drills were in association with at least one additional primate species during 57.9% of observations. These associations involved all of the diurnal primates found in Korup (Cercopithecus mona, Cercopithecus nictitans, Cercopithecus erythrotis, Cercopithecus pogonias, Piliocolobus preussi and Cercocebus torquatus) except chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We discuss our findings in terms of existing knowledge about drill ecology and highlight the urgent need for the protection of the significant drill population in Korup National Park. Am. J. Primatol. 70:306–310, 2008. � c 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.