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Article History

Received: 25 January 2021

Accepted: 22 May 2021

First Online: 19 June 2021

Declarations

:

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

: There is no IACUC committee in the DRC. However, the Boyekoli Ebale Congo 2010 expedition was approved by the competent authorities (see below). The Boyekoli Ebale Congo 2010 expedition was carried out in the DRC between April and May 2010. Despite the absence of an animal ethics committee in the DRC (or equivalent IACUC), all wildlife sampling was aligned with international research ethics protocols and approved by the competent authorities in the DRC. By “competent authorities”, we refer to the Congolese institutions included in the consortium that validated the research protocols, namely the University of Kisangani (UNIKIN) and the Laboratory of Research in Animal Ecology (LEGERA), details of which are provided in the appendix. By “wildlife samples” we refer to: a) Samples from species not protected by CITES and/or by Congolese law, and ticks obtained from them protected by UNIKIS and LEGERA permits. b) Samples of species protected by CITES and/or by Congolese law, and ticks obtained from them—without financial compensation—from hunters and/or bushmeat sellers during the expedition and protected by UNIKIS and LEGERA permits. No IUCN Red List protected animals were actively trapped. Ticks were removed from the hunted animals with tweezers. Wildlife sampling was carried out under the supervision of the Dean of the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Kisangani, who was a member of the mammalogy research team during the Boyekoli Ebale Congo 2010 expedition. The research was carried out outside the legally recognised parks and reserves in the DRC, outside the protected areas.