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Research Article

Chimpanzee Predation and the Ecology of Microbial Exchange

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Pages 186-188 | Published online: 11 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

Hunting provides one mechanism for the transmission of microbes across host species boundaries. It has generally been assumed that this mechanism leads to unidirectional transmission to humans. We report that wild chimpanzees occasionally prey on human children. This result and other evidence of chimpanzee hunting show the need for consideration of more complex predation-mediated host networks.