There are nine recognized species
of sifakas in Madagascar, and all have similar social structure with only two reproducing adults and between two and four members.
Despite various efforts to stop the infection, such as quarantining infected lemurs and decontaminating their enclosures, more than half
of the sifakas living at the center have tested positive for crypto at some point.
Not exact matches
All
of the infected animals are
sifakas — the only lemur species out
of 17 at the center known to fall prey to the parasite — and most
of them were under age five when they got sick.
In a study published in the May 29, 2014, edition
of Molecular Ecology Resources, Duke researchers Peter Larsen, Ryan Campbell and Anne Yoder used high - throughput sequencing on
sifaka blood samples to generate sequence data for more than 150,000 different
sifaka antibodies — protective molecules that latch on to bacteria, viruses and other foreign invaders in the body and fight them off before they cause infection.
The golden crowned
sifaka, Propithecus tattersalli, is a lemur living in small social units in the north
of Madagascar.
The monitors reported the arrival
of 233 dead indri and 121 diademed
sifaka, another threatened species.
The female
sifaka, though, show how some animals can chance on trichromacy even if most
of the other members are dichromats, meaning they have only two types
of cone cells.
Coincidentally, Bradley had sequenced the genomes
of nearly 100 Verreaux's
sifaka in a different Malagasy forest in 2005, as a postdoc.
On hikes, look for more than ten species
of lemurs, including red - bellied lemurs, Milne - Edward's
sifakas, and greater dwarf lemurs; as well as tenrecs; mongooses; and myriad butterflies, frogs, and birds.
In an e-mail last week, she described her decade
of work there, in which she focused on several severely endangered primates, including the silky
sifaka, which is restricted to the Marojejy National Park and surrounding regions.