EN / JP

Japanese macaques at Jigokudani Monkey Park (JMP), Japan, display a unique behavior for thermoregulation in winter through hot spring bathing behavior (HSBB). No studies have yet looked into HSBB impacts on parasitism and the gut microbiome of the macaques. Here, we propose to investigate these potentially negative outcomes of HSBB to expand our knowledge of this interesting behavior. We predict changes in the gut eukaryome and lower ectoparasite load in bathing macaques.