An African monkey ate a rope squirrel and came down with mpox Skip to content Subscribe today Every print subscription comes with full digital access Subscribe Now Menu All Topics Health Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology View All Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes View All Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment View All Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics View All Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology View All Magazine Menu All Stories Multimedia Reviews Puzzles Collections Educator Portal Century of Science Unsung characters Coronavirus Outbreak Newsletters Investors Lab About SN Explores Our Store SIGN IN Donate Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 SIGN IN Search Open search Close search Home INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM SINCE 1921 All Topics Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology Tech Computing Artificial Intelligence Chemistry Math Science & Society All Topics Health Humans Humans Anthropology Health & Medicine Archaeology Psychology Recent posts in Humans Life An African monkey ate a rope squirrel and came down with mpox By Erin Garcia de Jesús52 minutes ago Health & Medicine A lab on wheels is tracking HIV spread in war-torn Ukraine By Kamal Nahas5 hours ago Archaeology Iron Age mass grave may hold unusual victims: mostly women and children By Tom MetcalfeFebruary 23, 2026 Life Life Animals Plants Ecosystems Paleontology Neuroscience Genetics Microbes Recent posts in Life Life An African monkey ate a rope squirrel and came down with mpox By Erin Garcia de Jesús52 minutes ago Animals Intricate silk helps net-casting spiders ensnare prey in webs By Emily Conover3 hours ago Health & Medicine A lab on wheels is tracking HIV spread in war-torn Ukraine By Kamal Nahas5 hours ago Earth Earth Agriculture Climate Oceans Environment Recent posts in Earth Climate Halting irreversible changes to Antarctica depends on choices made today By Carolyn GramlingFebruary 20, 2026 Climate Snowball Earth might have had a dynamic climate and open seas By Michael MarshallFebruary 19, 2026 Oceans Evolution didn’t wait long after the dinosaurs died By Elie DolginFebruary 13, 2026 Physics Physics Materials Science Quantum Physics Particle Physics Recent posts in Physics Animals Intricate silk helps net-casting spiders ensnare prey in webs By Emily Conover3 hours ago Physics Physicists dream up ‘spacetime quasicrystals’ that could underpin the universe By Emily ConoverFebruary 17, 2026 Physics A precise proton measurement helps put a core theory of physics to the test By Emily ConoverFebruary 11, 2026 Space Space Astronomy Planetary Science Cosmology Recent posts in Space Planetary Science Venus has a massive lava tube By Tom MetcalfeFebruary 23, 2026 Science & Society Project Hail Mary made us wonder how to survive a trip to interstellar space By Tina Hesman SaeyFebruary 20, 2026 Astronomy This inside-out planetary system has astronomers scratching their heads By Adam MannFebruary 12, 2026 News Life An African monkey ate a rope squirrel and came down with mpox A new study documents monkeypox jumping between wild species for the first time In 2023, an outbreak of mpox erupted among a group of sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park. Roughly a third of the group, including infants (one shown) fell ill. A new study suggests a fire-footed rope squirrel eaten by one of the monkeys may have been the source. Taï Chimpanzee Project, Carme Riutord-Fe/HIOH By Erin Garcia de Jesús 52 minutes ago Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Share on X (Opens in new window) X Print (Opens in new window) Print A monkey making a meal of a squirrel may have sparked an outbreak. In early 2023, mpox broke out among a group of a few dozen sooty mangabeys (Cercocebus atys) living in Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park. Roughly one-third of the monkeys developed symptoms such as skin lesions and four infants died. Surveys of the park’s wildlife revealed that the outbreak began after a member of the group ate a fire-footed rope squirrel (Funisciurus pyrropus), researchers report February 11 in Nature. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. The findings suggest a rope squirrel was the source of the outbreak and for the first time show the monkeypox virus jumping from one species to another in the wild. Viral spillovers from animals to people are typically at the root of human mpox outbreaks. Pinpointing which animals carry the virus can help guide prevention measures that protect people from getting infected, says Clement Meseko, a veterinarian and virologist at the National Veterinary Research Institute in Vom, Nigeria who was not involved in the work. Officials might tell people who live or work around fire-footed squirrels to wear personal protective equipment when handling squirrels, for instance, or to wash their hands. Several mpox outbreaks have popped up among Taï National Park’s primates since 2012, says Livia Patrono, a veterinarian and disease ecologist at Helmholtz Institute for One Health in Greifswald, Germany. In 2012, an infected sooty mangabey turned up dead. Then members of three separate groups of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) fell ill in 2017 and 2018. But primates weren’t themselves harboring the virus. Researchers only ever saw mpox circulating in primates during outbreaks, not before or after. “One big question for us has been, ‘where are the nonhuman primates getting infected from?’” Patrono says. That’s why for years she and colleagues have been testing rodents in the park. African rodents including rope squirrels are among the leading suspects for mpox reservoir hosts — species in which the virus permanently circulates. The first monkeypox virus isolated from wildlife came from a Thomas’s rope squirrel (F. anerythrus), and multiple squirrel habitats overlap with spots where human epidemics have begun. Rope squirrel museum specimens from as far back as 1899 have tested positive for the virus. Extensive wildlife monitoring including testing fecal samples found throughout the park and conducting necropsies of dead animals allowed Patrono and colleagues to scrutinize how the 2023 mpox outbreak took off. The team tested more than 700 trapped or dead rodents for monkeypox virus. Just one tested positive: a fire-footed rope squirrel found dead 3 kilometers south of the sooty mangabeys’ territory and
An African monkey ate a rope squirrel and came down with mpox
