Development of Basic Physiological Parameters and Sleep-Wakefulness Patterns in Normal and at-Risk Neonatal Pigtail Macaques (Macaca nemestrina)

Abstract

Poor pregnancy outcomes are a major problem for good primate colony husbandry, yet they are a major scientific asset for a number of nonhuman primate research goals. For the veterinarian whose goal is a healthy, fecund, self-sustaining colony, breeders that habitually produce nonviable or sick offspring are an economic and time-consuming liability. However, for many researchers such breeders and their offspring are a major resource for studying genetic, prenatal, and perinatal factors underlying both human and nonhuman primate obstetric and pediatric problems. Nevertheless, in most large primate facilities high-risk breeders and their offspring are systematically culled from the colony. This produces breeding groups that are increasingly free of naturally occurring attributes important for research on major human health problems. Within the economic conditions of large facilities such as Primate Research Centers, this unfortunate dilemma subverts the very goal of these institutions--namely, the maintenance of research colonies to solve scientific and health problems. It appears to us that this dilemma will be appreciated and solved only when administrators, veterinarians, and scientists wishing to exploit this resource become committed to a cooperative effort.