Research on Human and Non-Human Primates
We are actively involved in veterinary Medicine and One Health research as illustrate our contribution in mentioning different publications as author and co-author including the Human metapneumovirus infection”, “Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus” and “lymphocryptovirus has Epstein -Barr virus- like Epidemiology and pathology in infants” on mountain gorilla, Human herpes simplex virus type 1 found for the first time on captive gorilla. (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean-Felix-Kinani). And a paper on an integrated approach to health improvement in Rwanda” with the Ministry of Health.
And other behavior researcher findings like the two mentioned in below.(https://www.travelnewsrwanda.com/conservation/dr-kinanis-penchant-for-rescuing-rwandas-great-apes-from-extinction/)
Dian Fossey’s journals the famous scientist, who lived among mountain gorillas for nearly two decades, wrote that mountain gorillas had an “obvious dislike of rain, and they seem to dislike water in general, usually trying to cross streams without getting wet.”However, one day during a rainy season in 2013, Rwandan researcher Jean Felix Kinani Sangwa saw a gorilla drinking water in the Virunga Massif. (https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/rwanda-today/news/researcher-observes-gorilla-drinking-water-for-first-time–1341332)
While studying wild mountain gorillas in Rwanda in 2013, Dr. Jean Felix Kinani Sangwa observed something very exciting: a young female using a stick to forage for ants. While you may have heard of apes performing similar behaviors before, this is the first time that gorillas have ever been spotted using tools to acquire food in the wild. For the first time, a gorilla in the wild has been seen using a tool to acquire and eat food. Dr. Kinani’s observation was published in the American Journal of Primatology under the title: “Tool Use for Food Acquisition in a Wild Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei)”. It was the first time tool use for food acquisition was being reported in a wild gorilla despite the intensive monitoring of the endangered subspecies “Captive orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos have all been observed using tools in a variety of contexts for food extraction before, but not Wild mountain gorillas” explained Dr. Kinani
Dr. Antoine Mudakikwa, Head of Veterinary Unit, Research and Monitoring at the Rwanda Development Board hailed Kinani’s findings as a credible reference for primatologists around the world:
“Naturally as a primatologist it was a really good surprise because it is the first time such an observation is being documented. In the past people used to speculate and talk about tool use by gorillas in the wild, now we have seen it – a wild mountain gorilla adopting tool use for food acquisition,” he explained, adding that the development would lay ground for further primatological research
