APPLIED RESEARCH FOR IMPROVING THE BEHAVIORAL MANAGEMENT

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The proposed behavioral research program is designed to improve the management of captive rhesus monkeys and to maximize the breeding potential of the resulting SPF rhesus colony. Improvements in the environmental conditions for singly and socially housed rhesus will be studied, documenting effects on activity, behavioral pathologies and agonism. Four categories of environmental enrichment will be evaluated and compared. The adequacy of the proposed SPF derivation strategy for producing animals that are competent breeders and parents will be evaluated. Relationships between environmental enrichment, hormonal measures of stress, behavioral indices of stress, genetic characterization of animals and Herpes B virus status will be statistically analyzed. This will have practical application in identifying animals that are less susceptible to the detrimental consequences of single caging and in beginning a selective breeding program of such animals. Within our SPF derivation strategy, defining a behavioral profile predictive of HBV infection expression will allow social groupings to be made that minimize the probability of new exposures to infection. Results from all of these research projects will have direct application to improving the care and management of rhesus monkey colonies.