TAILORING ENRICHMENT TO REARING AND RESEARCH

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This project includes several studies relevant to the management of nonhuman primate colonies in relation to development of a comprehensive environmental enrichment program. To continue progress in refining the care of primates in research facilities, it is necessary to better determine how enrichment techniques should be tailored to the management of primates used in biomedical research. Biomedical studies may require restrictions on the type of enrichment techniques that can be implemented for study animals, and may at the same time alter the psychological needs of the animals. This project provides direct benefit to the well-being and management of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Focus has been placed on three aspects of management that may vary considerably with rearing and research use: (1) social grouping including a comparison of monkeys housed together with those housed such that they interact through a permeated barrier, (2) human interaction as a form of enrichment for singly housed monkeys, and (3) the treatment of individuals in persistent psychological distress, including socialization and human interaction as interventions. Behavioral and physiological dependent measures are employed as indicators of well-being, including normal and abnormal behavior, health assessments, clinical treatment records, and cortisol concentrations. Results indicate that positive reinforcement training is not an effective intervention for various types of abnormal behaviors sometimes expressed in rhesus monkeys. The study takes advantage of a unique opportunity to document the effects of altering environmental enhancement in keeping with improved behavioral management, and measuring a variety of outcomes.