This shows we can monitor gorillas-and potentially other primate species-over time, noninvasively, at the individual level and help answer questions regarding their conservation.' 'That allowed us to collect specimens from every known, habituated mountain gorilla in Uganda and Rwanda. 'We were able to do this study entirely using chewed plants,' said lead author Tierra Smiley Evans, research faculty with the WHC and One Health Institute at UC Davis. After extracting the DNA from the discarded plants and screening them for orally shed pathogens, the study found no evidence of human herpesviruses infection among the free-ranging gorillas. While a human herpesvirus may amount to no more than a cold sore in a person, it could be more serious if introduced to gorillas or other species. The program monitors the health of mountain gorillas and provides veterinary care to injured and ill gorillas.

Drayer Wildlife Health Center or WHC, within the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. Gorilla Doctors is a partnership between the Karen C. Their findings are described in a study published in the American Journal of Primatology. Scientists from the University of California, Davis, used the technique to rule out the presence of human herpesviruses among the region's mountain gorillas. This simple, noninvasive tool of a chewed plant is helping Gorilla Doctors-who know each gorilla by name-provide personalized health care to wild, endangered mountain gorillas living in Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.

Minutes later, wildlife veterinarians observing the scene write down the name of the gorilla and retrieve the saliva-drenched plant, which carries vital information about that gorilla's health.

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