Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T05:02:17.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of Enrichment on Veterinary Treatment of Laboratory Rhesus Macaques (Macaca Mulatta)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

S J Schapiro  and
D Bushong
S J Schapiro*
Affiliation:
The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Route 2, Box 151-B1, Bastrop, Texas 78602, USA
D Bushong
Affiliation:
The University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Science Park, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Route 2, Box 151-B1, Bastrop, Texas 78602, USA
*
† Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

For captive primates, environmental enrichment may improve psychological well-being, as indicated by changes in the frequency of species-typical and abnormal behaviours. The effects of enrichment on physical well-being have also been examined, but little attention has been devoted to the relationship between enrichment and animal health. We therefore studied the health records of 98 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) to measure the effects that enrichment and social housing manipulations had on the number of veterinary treatments and days of therapy required by the monkeys. Subjects were housed singly, in pairs and in groups. Half of the subjects in each housing condition were enriched and the others were controls. Control and enriched subjects did not differ in the number of treatments they required, but enriched subjects received longer therapies than did controls. Neither treatments nor days of therapy were frequent or randomly distributed across housing conditions; pair-housed subjects required the least treatment and therapy, whereas singly-housed subjects were treated slightly more frequently for diarrhoea-related problems, and group-housed subjects for trauma-related problems. Subject age, however, was a potential confounding factor. Because subjects were part of a specific pathogen-free breeding programme, they spent only certain ages in each housing condition. Results suggest that inanimate enrichment neither diminishes nor improves the health of young macaques, but that enriched monkeys may require longer periods of therapy than do controls. Pair housing may be an effective housing strategy from both veterinary and behavioural points of view, necessitating relatively few treatments, but providing some social enrichment opportunities.

Keywords

animal welfareenvironmental enrichmentpair housingphysical well-beingpsychological well-beingrhesus macaques
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , February 1994 , pp. 25 - 36
Copyright
© 1994 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bayne, KAL, Dexter, S L, Hurst, J K, Strange, G M and Hill, E E 1993 Kong toys for laboratory primates: are they really an enrichment or just fomites? Laboratory Animal Science 43: 78–85Google ScholarPubMed
Bayne, K, Mainzer, H, Dexter, S, Campbell, G, Yamada, F and Suomi, S 1991 The reduction of abnormal behaviors in individually housed rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with a foraging/grooming board. American Journal of Primatology 23: 23–25CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, I S 1991 Social housing of monkeys and apes: group formations. Laboratory Animal Science 41: 329–333Google ScholarPubMed
Bernstein, I S, Gordon, T P and Rose, R M 1974 Factors influencing the expression of aggression during introductions to rhesus monkey groups. In Holloway, R L (ed) Primate Aggression, Territoriality and Xenophobia - A Comparative Perspective pp 211–240. Academic Press: New York, NYGoogle Scholar
Bloomsmith, M A, Alford, P L and Maple, T L 1988 Successful feeding enrichment for captive chimpanzees. American Journal of Primatology 16: 155–164CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloomsmith, M A, Keeling, M E and Lambeth, S P 1990 Videotapes: environmental enrichment for singly-housed chimpanzees. Lab Animal 19(1): 42–46Google Scholar
Brandt, E M and Mitchell, G 1973 Pairing preadolescents with infants (Macaca mulatta). Developmental Psychology 8: 222–228CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brent, L, Lee, D R and Eichberg, J W 1989 Evaluation of two environmental enrichment devices for singly caged chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). American Journal of Primatology (Supplement) 1: 65–70Google Scholar
Bryant, C E, Rupniak, N M J and Iverson, S D 1988 Effects of different environmental enrichment devices on cage stereotypies and autoaggression in captive cynomolgus monkeys. Journal of Medical Primatology 17: 257–269CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Byrne, G D and Suomi, S J 1991 Effects of woodchips and buried food on behavior patterns and psychological well-being of captive rhesus monkeys. American Journal of Primatology 23: 141–151CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chamove, A S, Anderson, J R, Morgan-Jones, S C and Jones, S P 1982 Deep woodchip litter: hygiene, feeding, and behavioral enhancement in eight primate species. International Journal of Studies of Animal Problems 3: 308–318Google Scholar
Chamove, A S, Rosenblum, L A and Harlow, H F 1973 Monkeys (Macaca mulatta) raised only with peers. A pilot study. Animal Behaviour 21: 316–325CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Champoux, M, Coe, C L, Schanberg, S M, Kuhn, C M and Suomi, S J 1989 Hormonal effects of early rearing conditions in the infant ihesus monkey. American Journal of Primatology 19: 111–117CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clarke, M R, Koritnik, D R, Martin, L N and Baskin, G B 1989 Cage enrichment, physiology, and behavior in nursery-reared rhesus monkeys. American Journal of Primatology (Supplement) 1: 53–57Google Scholar
Coe, C L, Glass, J C, Wiener, S G and Levine, S 1983 Behavioral, but not physiological, adaption to repeated separation in mother and infant primates. Psychoneuroendocrinology 18: 401–409CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crockett, C M, Bowden, D M, Bowers, C L and Sackett, G P 1991 Social pairing of longtailed macaques with preferred, nonpreferred, and randomly assigned cagemates. American Journal of Primatology 24: 94–95Google Scholar
Eaton, G G, Kelley, S T and Axthelm, M 1991 Assessment of psychological well-being in paired rhesus females. American Journal of Primatology 24: 97–98Google Scholar
Eaton, G G, Kelley, S T, Axthelm, M and Iliff-Sizemore, S A 1992 Reproductive parameters of psychological well-being in paired female rhesus. American Journal of Primatology 27: 26–27Google Scholar
Erwin, J 1977 Factors influencing aggressive behavior and risk of trauma in the pigtail macaque (Macaca nemestrina). Laboratory Animal Science 27: 541–547Google ScholarPubMed
Erwin, J and Sackett, G P 1990 Effects of management methods, social organization, and physical space on primate behavior and health. American Journal of Primatology 20: 23–30CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levine, S, Johnson, D F and Gonzales, C A 1985 Behavioral and hormonal responses to separation in infant rhesus monkeys and mothers. Behavioral Neuroscience 99: 399–410CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Line, S W and Morgan, K N 1991 The effects of two novel objects on the behavior of singly caged adult rhesus macaques. Laboratory Animal Science 41: 365–369Google ScholarPubMed
Line, S W, Morgan, K N, Markowitz, H, Roberts, J A and Riddel, M 1990 Behavioral responses of female long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to pair formation. Laboratory Primate Newsletter 29(4): 1–5Google Scholar
Line, S, Morgan, K, Markowitz, H and Strong, S 1989 Influence of cage size on heart rate and behavior in rhesus monkeys. American Journal of Veterinary Research 50: 1523–1526Google ScholarPubMed
Mason, W A 1991 Effects of social interaction on well-being: development aspects. Laboratory Animal Science 41: 323–328Google ScholarPubMed
Mineka, S and Suomi, S J 1978 Social separation in monkeys. Psychological Bulletin 85: 1376–1400CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molzen, E M and French, J A 1989 The problem of foraging in captive Callitrichid primates: behavioral time budgets and foraging skills. In Segal E F (ed) Housing, Care and Psychological Well-being of Captive and Laboratory Primates pp 89–101. Noyes Publications: Park Ridge, New JerseyGoogle Scholar
Novak, M A and Drewsen, K H 1989 Enriching the lives of captive primates: issues and problems. In Segal, E F (ed) Housing, Care and Psychological Well-being of Captive and Laboratory Primates pp 161–182. Noyes Publications: Park Ridge, New JerseyGoogle Scholar
Novak, M A and Suomi, S J 1988 Psychological well-being of primates in captivity. American Psychologist 43: 765–773CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O’Neill, P L, Novak, M A and Suomi, S J 1991 Normalizing laboratory-reared rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) behavior with exposure to complex outdoor enclosures. Zoo Biology 10: 237–245Google Scholar
Reinhardt, V, Houser, W D, Eisele, S G and Champoux, M 1987 Social enrichment of the environment with infants for singly caged adult rhesus monkeys. Zoo Biology 6: 365–371CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinhardt, V, Houser, D, Eisele, S, Cowley, D and Vertein, R 1988 Behavioral responses of unrelated rhesus monkey females paired for the purpose of environmental enrichment. American Journal of Primatology 14: 135–140CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruppenthal, G C, Walker, C G and Sackett, G P 1991 Rearing infant monkeys (Macaca nemestrina) in pairs produces deficient social development compared with rearing in single cages. American Journal of Primatology 25: 103–113Google ScholarPubMed
Schapiro, S J and Bloomsmith, M A (in press [a]) Behavioral effects of enrichment on pair-housed juvenile rhesus monkeys. American Journal of PrimatologyGoogle Scholar
Schapiro, S J and Bloomsmith, M A (in press [b]) Behavioral effects of enrichment on singly-housed, yearling rhesus monkeys: an analysis including three enrichment conditions and a control group. American Journal of PrimatologyGoogle Scholar
Schapiro, S J, Bloomsmith, M A, Kessel, A L and Shively, C A 1993a Effects of enrichment and housing on Cortisol response in juvenile rhesus monkeys. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 37: 251–263CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schapiro, S J, Bloomsmith, M A, Porter, L M and Suarez, SA 1993b Housing conditions and/or age more strongly affect the behavior of young rhesus monkeys than does inanimate enrichment. American Journal of Primatology 30: 346 (Abstract)Google Scholar
Schapiro, S J, Brent, L Y, Bloomsmith, M A and Satterficld, W C 1991 Enrichment devices for nonhuman primates. Lab Animal 20(6): 22–28Google Scholar
Schapiro, S J and Kessel, A L 1993 Weight gain among juvenile rhesus macaques: a comparison of enriched and control groups. Laboratory Animal Science 43: 315–318Google ScholarPubMed
Schapiro, S J, Lee-Parritz, D E, Taylor, L L, Watson, L, Bloomsmith, M A and Petto, A 1992 Behavioral management of specific pathogen-free (SPF) rhesus macaques. Paper presented at the XIVth Congress of the International Primatological Society, Strasbourg, FranceGoogle Scholar
Schapiro, S J, Lee-Parritz, D E, Taylor, L L, Watson, L, Bloomsmith, M A and Petto, A (in press) Behavioral management of specific pathogen-free (SPF) rhesus macaques: group formation, reproduction, and parental competence. Laboratory Animal ScienceGoogle Scholar
Voss, W R, Buchi, S J, Keeling, M E, Hilliard, J, Lerche, N, Schapiro, S J and Bloomsmith, M A 1991 Derivation strategy for establishing a Macaca mulatta (rhesus) colony specifically pathogen-free of Herpes B virus and simian retrovirus. AALAS Bulletin 30: 1819Google Scholar