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So is the colobus monkey the natural Ebola reservoir? That is also most likely not the case. Dying chimpanzees were observed in Taï National Park only during the rainy season in and , even though chimpanzees hunt the red colobus throughout their hunting season. The hunting season lasts significantly longer than the rainy season, so the red colobus monkey is unlikely to be the natural host of Ebola.
He could possibly be an intermediate host, who becomes infected with the virus during the rainy season, for example, from the as yet unknown true host. In , a red colobus monkey was found for the mobile number list first time in the Taï rainforest in Ivory Coast to have antibodies against Ebola in its blood. This means that the red colobus can indeed be infected with Ebola, although it is not clear whether the monkey survives or not.
The red colobus lives in the roof of the tropical rainforest, up in the trees. Could the Ebola virus be in the ecological environment of the red colobus monkey? The monkeys are bitten by bats in their nests at night, and there are three times as many bats in the roof of the rainforest as near the ground. Perhaps the key lies here. Bats do indeed live in those areas in Africa where Marburg and Ebola infections occurred.
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