Review of Environmental and Health Factors Impacting Captive Common Marmoset Welfare in the Biomedical Research Setting
As a small-bodied neotropical nonhuman primate species, common marmosets have unique requirements for adequate husbandry and veterinary care to ensure proper maintenance and to promote good animal welfare in a biomedical research setting. Environmental conditions, as well as medical and research-related manipulations, can impact marmoset welfare. Research focus areas, including basic neuroscience, transgenics, and aging, […]
Functional Analysis and Successful Treatment of a Captive Rhesus Macaque’s Disruptive Behavior
Functional analysis (FA) is a method developed and used by behavior analysts in human clinical settings to identify possible environmental variables that reinforce undesired behavior. FA is increasingly being applied to better understand the behavior of nonhuman animals. When training monkeys in a room with others, disruptive behavior displayed by neighboring monkeys can impede training […]
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) […]
The use of positive reinforcement training to reduce stereotypic behavior in rhesus macaques
Stereotypic behavior is a pervasive problem for captive monkeys and other animals. Once this behavior pattern has started, it can be difficult to alleviate. We tested whether or not using positive reinforcement training (PRT) can reduce this undesired behavior. Subjects for this study were 11 adult, female rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) with a history of […]
Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates in Research
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The Great Ape Aging Project: Caring for and Learning from Apes
The Great Ape Aging Project was initiated to promote improvements in the care and well-being of elderly apes and to advance fundamental knowledge regarding normal aging and age-related disorders. Increased understanding of ape biology and aging in apes can benefit individual apes, apes in general, as well as humans. The project involves behavioral, cognitive, locomotor, […]
The welfare of non-human primates used in research: Report of the Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare
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The Development of an Operant Conditioning Training Program for New World Primates at the Bronx Zoo
This article describes the development of an operant conditioning training program for 17 species of New World primates at the Bronx Zoo. To apply less invasive techniques to husbandry protocols, the study introduced behaviors-hand feeding, syringe feeding, targeting, scale and crate training, and transponder reading-for formal training to 86 callitrichids and small-bodied cebids housed in […]
Training Nonhuman Primates to Cooperate With Scientific Procedures n Applied Biomedical Research
This report provides a brief overview of aspects of training nonhuman primates who have been, and continue to be, used in this laboratory. The research context involves applied behavioral studies in which animals are trained to perform complex operant behavioral sequences, often in their homecage environment. In such studies, animals have freedom to choose whether […]
Positive reinforcement training as a technique to alter nonhuman primate behavior: Quantitative assessments of effectiveness
Many suggest that operant conditioning techniques can be applied successfully to improve the behavioral management of nonhuman primates in research settings. However, relatively little empirical data exist to support this claim. This article is a review of several studies that discussed applied positive reinforcement training techniques (PRT) on breeding/research colonies of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) […]