BEHAVIORAL & VETERINARY APPROACHES TO PRIMATE BREEDING

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One of the most important issues in animal management is to determine the optimal captive environment for the physical and psychological well-being of a particular species. Estimates of well-being require data on behavior, physiology, trauma, health, and reproduction of animals under different living conditions. The present project seeks to provide this information for species used as AIDS animal models, such as the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), and pigtail macaque (M. nemestrina). Data collected on these three species under a variety of conditions with standardized protocols will provide a computerized data base that will enhance the ability of national breeding programs to justify existing housing conditions and/or provide an empirical basis for the design of future facilities. In 1997, data were collected on a group of chimpanzee housed in a large naturalistic enclosure at Busch Gardens, Florida. Data collection consisted of beha vioral o bservations and fecal samples, following the same methodology that we used the previous years for the groups living at the Yerkes Primate Center. The fecal samples are used to assess level of stress hormones such as cortisol. Comparisons of the data collected on groups housed under different conditions at the Yerkes Center suggest that chimpanzee behavior differs depending on the density condition and the number of neighboring groups housed nearby. In addition, data on wounds recorded every week for each chimpanzee living at the Yerkes Center show that housing condition affects the frequency and severity of the wounds. A NATO Collaborative Research Grant has supported an extension of our project to the large group of chimpanzees of the Arnhem Zoo in which similar data have been collected. We are presently analyzing behavioral profiles of individual. FUNDING NIH / RO1RR09797 $121,324 09/01/1994 - 08/31/1999 PUBLICATIONS *Aureli, F., Preston, S.D. and deWaal, F.B.M. Heart rate responses to social interactions in free-moving rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) A pilot study. J. Comp. Psychol. 113:1-7, 1998. *Whitten, P.L., Stavisky R., Aureli, F. and Russel, E. Response of fecal cortisol to stress in captive chimpanzees. Am. Primatol J., 44:57-69, 1998. P51RR00165-38 1/1/98 - 12/31/98 Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center