International Journal of Primatology

, Volume 27, Issue 3, pp 779–790 | Cite as

Sleep Profile and Longevity in Three Generations of a Family of Captive Bolivian Aotus

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The daily total sleep time (TST) of the only nocturnal simian primate, Aotus spp., remains little studied under controlled conditions. We conducted 3 experiments in 4 owl monkeys (Aotus sp.), aged 1–27+ yr, to determine the daily TST. We housed 3 their—a nuclear family—in 1 cage and the remaining senescent female in an adjacent separate cage. We monitored their activity-sleep pattern longitudinally for 15–20 d via actigraphy: by tagging an acclerometer-type miniature transmitter (Actiwatch-MINIMITTER) sensitive to omnidirectional movement, to the owl monkey's neck. The TST (9.5–12.5 h) was ca. 4.5–7 h less than the 17 h Perachio reported for owl monkeys in 1971 by polysomnography, under similar 12-h-light; 12-h dark conditions. Our finding corroborates well with the TST for other nonhuman primates. Four members of the Aotus colony at our facility reached 20 yr in captivity; the oldest (wild-born female) is still living at >27 yr, and the second oldest (captive-born male), is 23 years now.

Key Words

actigraphy longevity nocturnality parental care total sleep time 
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Notes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Nobuko Matsubayashi of the Center for Human Evolutionary Modeling Research for providing expert technical assistance and Minoru Kinoshita for photography. Two anonymous referees provided much helpful criticism to improve an earlier version of the manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Center for Human Evolution Modeling ResearchKyoto University-Primate Research InstituteInuyama CityJapan

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