The relationship between personality, season, and wounding receipt in zoo‐housed Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata): A multi‐institutional study
It is important to those managing Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in captive settings to understand predictors of wounding. While studies have demonstrated that season (breeding or nonbreeding) and sex predict rates of wounding received by zoo-housed Japanese macaques, we investigated whether individual differences in personality ratings also might explain some of the observed interindividual variance […]
Enrichment and primate centers: Closing the gap between research and practice
A wealth of published research is available to guide environmental enrichment programs for nonhuman primates, but common practice may not consistently correspond to research findings. A 2003 survey to quantify common practice queried individuals overseeing enrichment programs about (a) social, feeding, structural, and manipulable enrichment; (b) human interaction and training; (c) general program administration; (d) […]
Macaques: enrichment for nonhuman primates
This book serves as an introduction to the basic behavior and environmental enrichment of several species of nonhuman primates that are more commonly used in education, research and entertainment. In many ways, this book is meant to be a “how to” manual; it is not intended to be a broad scientific review of the primate […]
Behavioral Abnormalities in Captive Nonhuman Primates
In this study, we dealt with 11 species of nonhuman primates across 10 zoos in India. We recorded behavior as instantaneous scans between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. In the study, we segregated behaviors for analyses into abnormal, undesirable, active, and resting. The 4 types of abnormal behavior exhibited included floating limb, self-biting, self-clasping, and […]
Enticing nonhuman primates to forage for their standard biscuit ration
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.1430120308.abs Ordinary feeder-boxes for macaques were converted into food puzzles by remounting them onto the square mesh (22 × 22 mm) of the front of the cages, away from original access holes. Feeding a standard ration of bar-shaped biscuits (40 × 24 × 16 mm; Purina Monkey Chow #5038; 236 g per animal), 8 […]
Voluntary progression order in captive rhesus macaques
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.1430110108.abs The sequence in which 14 laboratory rhesus macaques left their home enclosure during a routine catching procedure was recorded on 30 occasions during 6 weeks. The animals were trained to voluntarily exit one by one and enter a transport cage for weighing and/or treatment. Mean weekly exit orders cross-correlated significantly, and individuals retained […]
Primate Location Preference in a Double-Tier Cage: The Effects of Illumination and Cage Height
Nonhuman primates are frequently housed in double-tier arrangements with significant differences between the environments of the upper and lower-row cages. Although several studies have investigated whether this arrangement alters monkeys’ behavior, no studies have addressed the two most notable differences, light and height, individually to determine their relative importance. This experiment examined how rhesus and […]
Serial list linking by macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta): List property limitations
Four sophisticated macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) learned 6 different, 15-item ordinal lists (via conditional, 2-choice discriminations) as part of a study assessing some properties of serial list memory in monkeys. After assuring that the first 3 lists were well retained, the researchers attempted to link these by training only the 2 end-item pairs that ordered […]
Withholding information in semifree-ranging Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana)
The ability of Tonkean macaques (Macaca tonkeana) to deceive partners about the location of hidden food was investigated in 4 males belonging to a group raised in a 2-acre park. Before releasing subjects in the search task, the experimenter prompted 1 of the subjects to observe where the bait was hidden. The authors found that […]
Selective breeding of primates for use in research: consequences and challenges
Primates are bred in captivity for a number of purposes, from zoo-based captive breeding programmes for conservation to breeding for biomedical research. In each case, breeding animals that are fit for purpose, either as viable candidates for reintroduction or as valid research models, has presented challenges and resulted in steep learning curves. The breeding of […]