Gorilla Doctors is working with our government partners and colleagues on a comprehensive and collaborative study investigating the role of gastrointestinal parasites in causing illness in mountain gorillas.  Among our collaborators are Klára Petrzelková and David Modry, parasitology experts based at the Czech Academy of Sciences and the University of Brno, Czech Republic.

Klára and David have just published Parasites of Apes: An Atlas of Coproscopic Diagnostics, which is the most comprehensive guide written to date on the parasites of great apes. It describes methods for diagnosing parasite infections in the field and laboratory, and includes hundreds of photographs of parasite eggs and larvae. The textbook will assist veterinarians and technicians worldwide with accurately diagnosing gastrointestinal parasites in gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. All of us in the great ape health world are very happy to have such an informative and useful guide at our fingertips.

Parasites of Apes has been dedicated to Gorilla Doctors’ Dr. Mike Cranfield, “who devoted his career to the veterinary medicine of gorillas and other wildlife, and truly pioneered conservation medicine in Africa.”  We greatly appreciate this lovely and well-deserved tribute to Dr. Mike!

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