Wildlife Biomedical evaluation

A critical knowledge gap for many species of conservation concern is reference baseline biomedical values. As an example, in many wild animal species in Madagascar, basic blood analysis values are missing. Yet, such measurement is essential to answer critical yet simple questions including: “What is a healthy lemur/fosa?” and “How does the increased interactions with humans and their domestic animals affect the health of lemurs/fosa?”. Collectively, our work over the last decade have driven a series of advances in field and laboratory based measurement of baseline characteristics of the fauna of Madagascar and pathogens that are transmitted across species. Specifically, in collaboration with other researchers, we have established and maintain long term field studies at multiple protected area in Madagascar where we evaluate the health of mammalian wildlife longitudinally and across a gradient of habitat degradation.