iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jonas R.R. Torfs

@jonasrrtorfs.bsky.social

128 followers 247 following 11 posts

Postdoctoral researcher in bonobo gut and vaginal microbiomes 🐵🦠 | microbiome stability & transmission | University of Antwerp & Zoo Antwerp

Posts Replies Media

Jonas R.R. Torfs @jonasrrtorfs.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Excited to share our latest publication on gut microbiome ageing in one of our closest living relatives, the bonobo! 🐵🦠 By studying 165 wild and zoo-housed bonobos, we show that bonobos experience the same key features of microbiome ageing as seen in humans ⌛ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Graphical abstract of the new paper.

We studied 165 bonobos aged between 2 and 71 years old and collected 401 fecal samples to assess their gut microbiome, both in the wild and in zoos.

Some changes in the gut microbiome with age were conserved in the wild and in zoos, such as increased alpha diversity, a depletion of the core, and an increase in the abundance of rare genera. These are also patterns commonly seen in humans.

Other changes were context-dependent. In zoo-housed bonobos, instability and uniqueness of the gut microbiome increased with age, which follows patterns seen in industrialized humans. In contrast, this was not seen in wild bonobos nor in non-industrialized humans.

Cumulative lifetime exposures such as moving to different zoos increases microbiome uniqueness as well.

In conclusion, patterns of gut microbiome ageing are broadly conserved across hominids, but its expression is modulated by environmental context.

131

Reposted by Jonas R.R. Torfs

Science Magazine @science.org · 13/03/2026

Bonobos bully as much as chimpanzees—but their victims differ by sex, according to new #ScienceAdvances research. scim.ag/4sgXciX

scim.ag

Chimpanzees are not more aggressive than bonobos but target sexes differently

Chimpanzees and bonobos differ in aggression distribution but not magnitude.

0299

Jonas R.R. Torfs @jonasrrtorfs.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

🐵💥 After 2000+ hours of observing aggression across 189 zoo-housed bonobos and chimpanzees in 22 groups, we found that the two species are equally aggressive, yet differ in the distribution of aggression across the sexes ♂️♀️ Our study is out now, read more below ⬇️

031

Jonas R.R. Torfs @jonasrrtorfs.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

👀 Looking for a dissertation topic or research internship? 🐵 Always wanted to observe great apes? 🌟 This is your chance! Several positions are available to observe zoo-housed bonobos in the United States! ⬇️ See below for more information about the project 🐵🦠

010

Jonas R.R. Torfs @jonasrrtorfs.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Happy to see one of the final chapters of my PhD out now! 🐵🦠 We identified key covariates of the bonobo gut microbiome, including ecology, diet, transit time, social interactions and maternal vertical transmission within a large cohort of wild and zoo-housed bonobos.

140

Jonas R.R. Torfs @jonasrrtorfs.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Happy to share the publication of the keystone chapter of my PhD: "A comprehensive atlas of the bonobo gut bacteriome and its associated host and exposome factors" in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social 💩🦠🐵 📖 Read here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

doi.org

Redirecting

210