Friday, December 11, 2009

Primate Update E-Newsletter, Volume 1, Issue 4

We hope that you enjoy this December issue of Pacific Primate Sanctuary’s E-Newsletter. Wishing you the best and brightest Holiday Season. May all blessings flow to you and from you!

PPS Primates in the Spotlight

Macaco arrived at Pacific Primate Sanctuary on April 7, 2009. He spent 9 years living as a pet in Los Angeles. His owner said that he made the difficult decision to send Macaco here because he loved him, and he knew that Macaco deserved the chance to truly be a monkey. Macaco had never seen another monkey prior to arriving. He was unable to communicate with the other animals, and had difficulties moving on the branches in his new home. Since arriving at PPS, he has really enjoyed observing the other monkeys, and will sit for long periods of time watching them. He has learned so much from his neighbors, including how to make monkey sounds and to jump with much agility from branch to branch in his outfitted portable.

Notable News

The Monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary enjoyed a great November! Food donations were bountiful this month; the monkeys particularly enjoyed getting longan- a very rare treat. The weather has been getting a little chillier, and the families have been cuddling close together under their heat lamps for the added warmth. The sunny days are thoroughly taken advantage of, with many pairs grooming in patches of sunshine.


Thanksgiving was extraordinary—the day was bright and beautiful and the interns prepared a special snack of sweet potatoes baked with pineapple and nuts for the marmosets and tamarins. Contented noises could be heard throughout the corridor as the monkeys delved into this delicious meal. The Capuchins were particularly excited with their “packages” of sweet potato, nuts, apple slices, and pineapple wrapped up in ti leaves.


Happily, we were able to pair two monkeys this month!
Oona and Little Bea were each living alone, and in need of social interaction. The two are now living together, and getting along wonderfully. They really enjoy spending time on top of their soft sleeping house together.

Oona, a White-Tufted Ear

Marmoset

For the first time in their lives, Fern and Xylphone, two elderly ex-laboratory tamarins, have finally experienced the natural world! They were introduced into a Green Room this month. Initially they were a bit hesitant to check out the greenery, but now spend almost all their time outside. As soon as their breakfast arrives, they grab some and run out to eat. On one particular day, drizzling rain was falling lightly on the Sanctuary. Xylophone hung from the ceiling of her new enclosure, looking up at the sky and feeling the new sensation of light raindrops on her fur
Xylophone enjoying the sunshine

Meet More Monkeys





A white faced
Capuchin monkey peers out from her green world. Miranda was given refuge at Pacific Primate Sanctuary many years ago from a failed commercial venue here in Hawaii.








Fiona, a young female White-Tufted Ear Marmoset, enjoys a Thanksgiving sweet potato. One of the “free-generation”, Fiona was born at Pacific Primate Sanctuary to parents rescued from a research laboratory.







A Black-Tufted Eared Marmoset eating a delicious sweet potato. Cordelia lives with her mate Davis, and the two are inseparable.





What's Happening at PPS?

PPS Extension
We currently need to build more outdoor enclosures to accommodate the monkeys now living indoors in portables. There are 14 portables now crowding the corridor. Their presence is creating unstable social dynamics in the established monkey groups in the outdoor enclosures. We are in urgent need of funds to construct this additional housing for the primates.

The plans for the new addition are coming along well. We are coming to the end of our brainstorming, and are working towards finalizing the plans. Soon we will move into the next phases of fabrication and preparation!

Current enclosures nestled into the lush jungle environment

Please join with us in this life saving work. With your help, we can build this new addition with outdoor enclosures for the monkeys now living indoors.

Please send your tax-deductible donations to:

Pacific Primate Sanctuary
500-A Haloa Road
Haiku, HI 96708

Or donate on our website, using PayPal.


Pacific Primate Sanctuary on the Web
We are continuing to expand our communication through electronic means! We have started a blog. Many of our supporters do not have a Facebook account, and we want our Primate Update to be available to everyone! Check it out, and become a “Follower” to keep updated on the Sanctuary. Please share this link with your family and friends: http://pacificprimate.blogspot.com/

We are now on YouTube, and we have uploaded our very first video! The video is a beautiful slideshow of monkey pictures and music. Special Thanks to Morgan, Steven, and Erin for your wonderful contributions to this video. The video can be viewed at our blog and our Facebook page.


Support Pacific Primate Sanctuary just by searching the Web!
We are now signed up with a program called: GoodSearch.com this is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue (about a penny per search) to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up!

GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall that donates up to 30 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you'll be supporting Pacific Primate Sanctuary.

And if you download the GoodSearch – Pacific Primate Sanctuary (Hawaii) toolbar, our cause will earn money every time you shop and search onli ne, even if you forget to go to GoodShop or GoodSearch first! Add the Pacific Primate Sanctuary Hawaii toolbar.


Gift Wrapping at Borders

Mahalo to Borders Books and Music in the Maui Market place for letting us participate in their Gift Wrapping Fundraiser again this year. A special THANK YOU to Kristi Harata for all your help with getting us such great dates and times, including Black Friday- the biggest shopping day of the year! We have already had our first day of gift wrapping, and it went wonderfully. Thank you to everyone who has already signed up, and to those of you who have already participated!

We are signed up for 3 more days of gift wrapping in exchange for donations: December 9, 16, and 23. If you live on Maui and have holiday shopping to do at Borders, please stop by on these dates to support Pacific Primate Sanctuary by having us wrap your gifts!


PPS People in the Spotlight

Congratulations to our newest Graduates, Torsten, Katie and Jessica! Torsten and Katie are both Seniors in High School, and have completed training for the Afternoon shift. Jessica has recently finished training for the Morning shift. We are excited to continue their education at Pacific Primate Sanctuary, as they delve into Emergency Care Training.


Recent graduate Torsten in a greenroom



Meet Intern Robin:

Robin Burke arrived at Pacific Primate Sanctuary for the resident internship in June 2008. Prior to coming to the Sanctuary, Robin wrote: “My interest in primates started from a young age… In college at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I indulged my interest in primates by majoring in Anthropology and Psychology. …At CU, I thoroughly enjoyed every primate class I took… I became a zookeeper at York's Wild Kingdom in York, Maine, where I cared for a pair of white tufted-eared marmosets among other animals. After the zoo, I went to school to receive my Masters in Social Work and worked with kids, teens, and their families on behavioral and family dynamics issues. I am immensely excited to have the opportunity to serve at PPS. I have long known the importance of conservation, but didn't know what I could do as one person. By serving at PPS, I will be helping a cause that I feel strongly about. …I am looking forward to becoming a better human being through my interactions with the people and primates, and through the nature of the work.”

After completing her one-year internship, Robin decided to stay on for a second year! She has proven to be a wonderful asset to the Sanctuary. Robin has amazing observation skills, and is able to pick up on even the slightest change in behavior. This skill is invaluable to the care of these fragile creatures. We are also in awe of Robin’s technical abilities, and creative problem solving. She is very handy with tools, and great at setting up new enclosures. We are so thankful to have Robin as a part of our Volunteer Family!


Special Thanks

We would like to express our deep appreciation to the many Volunteers at Pacific Primate Sanctuary. We are so thankful for all that you do, for the many and varied gifts you bring to the Sanctuary. Thank you for helping us nurture our fellow beings and protect their precious lives.

Mahalo to Stacie for creating a wonderful soft sleeping house for the monkeys! We miss you, and are so happy that you continue to be a part of the Sanctuary ‘Ohana from so far away. Mahalo to Judi for mending hammocks to keep the monkeys in nice war m sleeping houses, we are happy that your sewing machine is working well again! Thank you to Dr. Cathy Johnson-Delaney for your advice on unusual medical situations, and Mahalo for your quick response! Mahalo to Dr. Dressler for your continued veterinary support, and constant advice on all situations!

Mahalo to everyone who helped get the Mailings folded, addressed, and stamped. This is always a time consuming activity, and we appreciate all the ext ra hands. A special Mahalo to Pete, Judi, Jennifer, Cyndi, Robin and Alli for volunteering their time to this vital project!

Mahalo to Maui Recyling Service for delivering a used refrigerator when the Sanctuary fridge stopped getting cold. They even took the broken one away to be re-cycled!

Mahalo to Chip, Howard, Jakob, Steven, and JK for picking up a larger donated fridge from Kula, and for getting it into the Sanctuary. Thank you to Anne and Erin for making the arrangements, and to Betty for the donation!




Volunteers moving a donated fridge into the Sanctuary!




Continuing Education


Special Topic- Intern Robin: Living Together: Social Interactions, Relationships, and Social Structure of Capuchin Monkeys
 


There are three levels of social behavior: interactions (what, who, when, for how long), relationships (a series of interactions which affect each other into a pattern over time), and social structure (a network of relationships). Capuchins interact with each other in three main ways: by sight, by sound, and by smell. The olfactory signals are not yet well understood, but vocal and auditory communication in Capuchins has been studied at length. Capuchins employ a variety of different facial expressions and vocalizations to communicate with one another, and in fact have many different sounds that mean different things. For example, there is a certain call that means “bird,” there is a trill that females use to coo rdinate travel, and there are many different food calls. These food calls have even been seen to be used deceptively by Capuchins when there is another around who might want to take the food item. The Capuchin brain is highly developed to be able to recognize these sounds, and to recognize each individual voice in one’s social group. There is a clear alpha male and female in a group, but the rest of the Capuchin hierarchy is not linear. Agonism is seen from many individuals and does not consistently come from higher-ranked monkeys. Agonism consists of supplantation (48% of interactions), threats and submiss ion (41%), and physical contact (11%). Females usually “squabble” more, and males are involved in more chases and physical contact, which can sometimes end in death. Capuchins utilize avoidance more often than reconciliation after a fight. Females are more likely to have others in their proximity and 
to form long-term affiliative bonds (they are the only Platyrrhines to form such female bonds), however males can also form these bonds, and can follow their friend into another social group. Females are also more likely to groom others, and some Capuchin species tend to groom down the dominance hierarchy, which is unusual for primates. Females will apparently groom males with no reciprocation from the male, but males who are more vigilant receive more grooming. Sexual encounters also have a social component, as Capuchins copulate far in excess of what is needed for procreation. 


Males typically emigrate from their natal group, so matrilines are very important in Capuchin social structure. Social groups differ on a continuum from uni-male controlled groups (despotism) to multi-male (cooperation). Generally, the higher the outside threat from other males, the more cooperative a group will be. There are periodic violent incursions from outside males who attempt to gain access to the females, and the more cooperative a group is the better their chance at fending off the outsiders. Females may influence the outcome of these altercations by siding with one group of males over another, or by leading the group away from an approaching group of males. In captivity, unrelated m ales can live together amiably for years without one fight, although rank-reversals can be quite tense. Males are usually not physically aggressive to females, and females can successfully supplant a male if they form a coalition. The strongest re lationship is that between a mother and her infant. After the infant is 3 months of age there is a high occurrence of “alloparenting” and “allonursing” (i.e. others caring for/nursing the infant), which is unusual for a non-monogamous species, but can be explained by the high rate of travel and separation during the day. Capuchins have the most complex social structures of all the New World Monkeys, and there is much yet that needs to be studied.

References:
Fragaszy, Visalberghi, & Fedigan
. 2004. The Complete Capuchin: The Biology of the Genus Cebus. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press




We hope you have enjoyed this issue of Pacific Primate Sanctuary’s E-Newsletter. Thank you for your support of our life saving work. Because of compassionate people, the Sanctuary can continue to provide a place of peace and happiness for 70 primates saved from research laboratories, animal dealers, and smugglers. Here they can heal, form families, and live free from exploitation.

“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” —Helen Keller


Thursday, December 3, 2009

Pacific Primate Sanctuary, Inc, Slideshow

We have uploaded a video to YouTube!  Please enjoy this slideshow of the monkeys given refuge at Pacific Primate Sanctuary, Inc.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Primate Update November 2009



PPS PRIMATES in the SPOTLIGHT

Oona is a seven-year-old female White-Tufted Ear Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus).  She came to Pacific Primate Sanctuary, along with her parents and siblings in March of 2004.  The family had been living in a laboratory prior to their arrival here. Happily we were able to find 

a wonderful match for Oona in Nigel. These two soon formed a close bond, and began a family of their own.

Oona has adapted very well to the naturalistic environment at Pacific Primate Sanctuary, and enjoys spending time basking in the sun.  It is common to see Oona on the ceiling of her enclosure, soaking in all the glorious rays!  She is highly inquisitive and very playful, and loves searching for bugs throughout her enclosure.

 

NOTABLE NEWS

Our newest residents, Fern and Xylophone, have been settling in well to life at Pacific Primate Sanctuary.  Their coats, which were rather sparse and rough when they arrived, are growing in nicely, and are looking very lush and shiny.  They also look as though they may have gained a little weight; overall they are looking very healthy!  Many of the other Tamarins in the corridor have enjoyed communicating with the newest pair, and they have been talking right back.  Recently, Fern and Xylophone were moved to a spot in the corridor with several other Cotton Top Tamarin families nearby.  The pair has been watching their new neighbors with great interest.

 

Fern and Xylophone observing the other monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary


We are continuing to see great progress with Pacey and Macaco, two ex-“pet” marmosets.  Pacey is showing less and less interest in his human caretakers.  He has often directed primate communication behaviors towards people, rather than other monkeys.  We are working to discourage this behavior, in the hopes that he will instead begin to bond with the other monkeys.  In the past month we have seen great progress with Pacey, and have noticed far fewer incidents of these behaviors.

Macaco had his first ever experience with another monkey this month!  We placed Allegra, a young female marmoset in with Macaco for a few hours.  Macaco is not quite sure how to respond, having never been in close contact with another monkey.  While the two are not ready to be paired yet, we will continue to give Macaco the opportunity to observe and interact with the other monkeys.

All four Capuchins are doing fantastically.  Our youngest, Viola loves to play and try out new moves, swinging and jumping.  Viola was abandoned at birth and hand reared by resident interns until she was 6 months old, and weaned enough to go in with her Grandmother Miranda.  Viola is now a little over a year, and has bonded with Miranda.  It is a joy to watch her interacting with Miranda, and playing like any other young Capuchin.

All of the Capuchins have really been enjoying the bounty of donated foods this month, particularly the mangos and date cubes!

             Viola enjoying donated mango 

Meet More Monkeys

Carlos, a Black-Tufted Ear Marmoset peering from behind a leaf.  Carlos is currently living in a portable with Margarite, and the two are very close.  This pair needs to get out into the green world.

 

 


Galatea, a Saddleback Tamarin, enjoying the sunshine.  Galatea came to Pacific Primate Sanctuary from a research laboratory along with her twin sister Gaia.

 

 

WHAT’S HAPPENING at PPS?

 

In the past couple months we have welcomed many new Volunteers.  Mahalo to each of you for donating your time and compassion to the animals in our care. Each new Volunteer that joins our ‘Ohana raises the bar and helps to create a better home for the monkeys in our care.  Your valuable contributions and wonderful energy are greatly appreciated.


Our new mailing is finished and is currently at the printers!  We should have the brochures back soon, and will need help folding, stamping, and addressing them all.  Please contact Erin (pps.coo@gmail.com) if you live on the island and would like to volunteer some time to this important project.


PPS Extension

We are in urgent need of funds to construct additional housing for the primates.  There are currently 20 monkeys living in indoor portables who need to get out into the green world.

The plans for the new addition are coming along well!  We have not quite finalized them yet, but have been brainstorming to make sure all the details are figured out.  Thank you to everyone who has helped with this important project, particularly Steven, Robin, Alli, Dr. Bud, Lucy and Erin.  A lot of thought has been put into making sure nothing is forgotten, and we appreciate everyone’s input.

Please join with us in this life saving work.  With your help, we can build this new addition with outdoor enclosures for the monkeys now living indoors.

 

Please send your tax-deductible donations to:

Pacific Primate Sanctuary

500 A Haloa Rd

Haiku, HI 96708

 

Or donate on our website, www.pacificprimate.org using PayPal.


Pacific Primate Sanctuary on the Web

We have been adding to our Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Haiku-HI/Pacific-Primate-Sanctuary-Inc/278605635163. 

This month we posted pictures of the animals in our care, as well as some pictures of the Sanctuary Grounds.  If you haven’t had a chance to view these yet, take some time to check them out!  Also, keep your eyes open for some wonderful videos of the monkeys that should be posted in the near future.


PPS PEOPLE in the SPOTLIGHT


Meet Volunteer Morgan L.:  At 13, Morgan Lapp, may be the youngest volunteer at Pacific Primate Sanctuary, but she sure does make a big impact!  We first began to know Morgan when her mom, Anne, became an Animal Caretaker Volunteer a year and a half ago.  Morgan was only 12, and too young to be a regular volunteer with us, but she wanted to help in any way she could.  Morgan donated time to help with our Gift Wrapping fundraiser, as well as spending 40 hours one week as part of a school project.  During this week, Morgan did a great observational study for us, spending time watching to see how Viola (a hand reared Capuchin) interacted with her Grandmother Miranda, who was fostering her.  Morgan also helped out with the monthly and weekly tasks while she was with us. 

We soon realized that she was not an ordinary 12 year old, and we decided to have Morgan become a Mentored Volunteer with her mom on Sunday evenings.  Morgan continues to make valuable contributions to the Sanctuary. Most recently, she has wowed us all with her video editing abilities!  

Morgan has been working with Erin to create videos of the animals to post on our facebook page, and hopefully our website as well.  Morgan has a positive, upbeat attitude, and always comes to the Sanctuary with a smile.  She reminds us to look at the world with “child’s” eyes, and to enjoy the wonder of nature.  She is truly a joy to have around!


Morgan with her mom Anne after our monthly Talk Story meeting

 

 

PPS VOLUNTEER UPDATES

 

Welcome to our newest animal care Volunteers Jessica Bardos, Robin Guerrero, and Sarah Guerrero.  Jessica is joining us for the Monday AM shift each week, and has cared for many different pets in her life.  She has never worked with primates, and is excited to be here at the Sanctuary.  Robin and Sarah are sisters who will be volunteering on the Sunday AM shift each week.  Robin has a degree in Psychology, and Sarah is currently a senior in High School.

 

Welcome to JK Martinovich who will be volunteering his expertise as a handyman. He is very interested in alternative energy sources, and organic gardening. JK has 30 years of handyman experience, and will be coming in each Sunday to keep everything running smoothly!

Congratulations to our newest Graduates, Morgan S. and Heather! Morgan S. has completed the training for the PM shift, while Heather has graduated from the AM shift.  Now it is time for our new graduates to begin their Emergency Care Training.

SPECIAL THANKS

A special Mahalo to all of the PPS caretakers for sharing your knowledge and expertise in the training our newest volunteers.

Mahalo to Sue for helping us to finish our new Sanctuary mailing. We hope it will help to raise funds for building the outdoor extension for all of the monkeys now in portables.  Sue has a great eye for detail, and a unique perspective.  We also are grateful to Sue for helping teach Erin how to use InDesign in order to help with future mailings.

Thank You to Down to Earth, for their important weekly donation of produce, dairy, tofu and other goodies to the monkeys each week!

Mahalo to Steven for donating your expertise in many areas to help the Sanctuary.  Thank you for all your help on the Sanctuary fridge. A special Mahalo for creating the designs for the new addition, for listening to our suggestions and needs, and then recreating the drawings to incorporate all of our best ideas into the new extension plan.


CONTINUING ED 

Dr.Bud Special Topic: Capuchin Deceptions

         Tufted Capuchins (Cebus apella nigritus) are fruit eating monkeys in South America.  Group members will often peep or hiccup to alert other members of the group when there are snake or cat predators around.  These monkeys have also been observed making these alarm calls, even when there are no cats or snakes around.  However, when they do this, there is a presence of food.  The alarms will scare away other members of the group, which allows the monkey who made the call full access to the food source!

Bensen, et al. Wild Things, Life as We Know It, Smithsonian Magazine, October 2009.

 

 



Special Topic— Intern Alli’s Observations:

Rehabilitation: From Laboratory to Sanctuary Living

New World primates (monkeys from South and Central America) have one of the most complex and sensitive social structures of the primate world.  This fact alone makes caring for these amazing animals in captivity an extremely delicate science.  In the wild, Callitrichids (marmosets and tamarins) can travel in groups of three to 15 individuals, which can include a breeding male, one or two breeding females, offspring, siblings, parents, and members who have immigrated from other groups.  Replicating this type of social structure in captivity can be very difficult as some offspring may be willing to stay in their natal group for years while others may show aggression towards family members once they reach sexually mature.  It is also extremely important to provide enough stimulation and enrichment to ensure mentally and physically healthy monkeys.  The type of housing the monkeys are placed in can greatly affect their health and behavior as well.  In other words, understanding normal, healthy behaviors can help tell us whether we are meeting the needs of monkeys in captivity.  As Jane Goodall puts it, “Only if we understand can we care.  Only if we care will we help.  Only if we help shall they be saved.”  Therefore, having a better understanding for where the monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary came from will help us to more successfully rehabilitate them into a wild-like setting.

         Upon learning that I had been selected to take part in the conservation and rehabilitation effort here at Pacific Primate Sanctuary, I immediately began to search for somewhere to gain more first hand primate experience.  I was extremely surprised when my request to observe the marmosets at a major primate research center was granted, and more than that, they offered to train me in all aspects of marmoset care.  During my six months at the lab, I was able to get a feel for what I thought was normal behavior of the 150+ marmosets housed within the six rooms set aside for New World primates.  Almost every monkey was housed with a mate or family unit in a portable about two feet wide by 5 feet deep by 6 feet high.  Each portable was outfitted with a shelf, two wooden dowels, and a metal nest box, which doubled as a carrier.  The portables were lined up against the walls so that each room contained anywhere from 20 to 65 marmosets.  I left the laboratory thinking I had a fairly comprehensive idea of what normal, healthy New World primate behavior was.  I learned very quickly upon arriving at Pacific Primate Sanctuary that many of the behaviors I had been observing at the laboratory over the past six months were very different from behaviors exhibited by the monkeys at PPS.

         By contrast, most of the monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary are housed in large indoor/outdoor enclosures with lush greenery, large branches, nest boxes, hammocks, soft sleeping houses, and ropes for climbing or perching.  The 10 or so indoor portables here are outfitted with at least three large branches, multiple ropes, a soft sleeping house, and greenery, which is replenished weekly.  I found out very quickly that this difference in housing, among other things, had quite an influence on what was considered “normal” behavior for the monkeys.  For example, one of the first observations I made upon arriving at PPS was that there was a much greater occurrence of grooming here than at the lab.  I found that most of the monkeys preferred to groom in the sunlight, which was impossible to do at the lab since all light was controlled and artificial.  The few times I witnessed grooming at the lab it was almost always between a mated pair; while at PPS it’s extremely common to see offspring grooming parents or siblings grooming each other, as well as mated pairs. 

One possible explanation for this difference is that most monkeys at the lab were pulled from their natal groups once they reached sexual maturity (around 9 months to a year old). The size of the laboratory portables only allowed a limited number of adult monkeys to live together at one time.  Once the monkeys reached adult size (sexual maturity) they would often be pulled and paired with a mate in a separate portable.  Since many social behaviors, like grooming, are learned while within these natal groups, taking young monkeys from their family group prematurely can hinder them from learning these normal behaviors.  This could be why grooming, an important social behavior, was such a rare occurrence in the lab setting.  At Pacific Primate Sanctuary, however, enclosures are large enough to accommodate many generations within a family unit.  Therefore, offspring can learn valuable parental and social skills by remaining in their family unit to help rear their younger siblings.  These are the skills that will be used when they themselves become parents.

Another set of behaviors I see much more frequently at PPS than in the lab setting are territorial gestures and behaviors. These displays include threat faces, piloerecting (puffing up their fur), and chittering and are common in the wild in order to claim territory, food sources, and mates.  I notice these behaviors most often when I’ve entered an enclosure or am standing too close to an enclosure; which is naturally when the monkeys should feel most territorial.  In contrast, when I would stand extremely close to a portable at the lab, most of the monkeys would either cower towards the back or ignore me completely.  This told me that the lab monkeys either didn’t feel that their portable was actually their territory, or they just didn’t feel safe within their territory.

One type of behavior that I saw more frequently at the lab was repetitive, nervous behavior, which usually indicates that the monkey lives in an un-stimulating and unsatisfactory physical, social and behavioral environment.  These behaviors include flipping, running in repeated circles or patterns, and self-injurious biting.  In contrast, I have only observed this type of patterned behavior occasionally with two monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary and both of them came from research labs.  For example, on a few occasions I have witnessed a 15-year-old marmoset, who came from a major research lab, run in small circles on the floor of his enclosure. This type of behavior (stereotypy) is common in laboratories and is a result of an impoverished living environment.  While many of the elderly monkey’s lab behaviors, like food aggression, have vanished as a result of his years at PPS, his nervous running will still randomly appear.  Another, younger marmoset also exhibits similar “running patterns” and is also an ex-lab monkey.  Since both of these monkeys are now living in large indoor/outdoor enclosures with multiple forms of stimulation, I can only assume that these behaviors are a remnant of their life before PPS.

         Knowing these disparities in behavior and housing can assist us while we are rehabilitating a monkey from a lab to a naturalistic environment.  One way to help lab monkeys immediately upon arrival is to show them that the enclosure they now live in is truly theirs, and as caretakers we only enter it to help them.  We do this by only “invading” their space in order to provide food, enrichment, fresh bedding, or to clean it.  Another good rehabilitation technique is making sure that the new monkey can see an enclosure with monkeys that exhibit natural behaviors so that they can begin to learn from their peers.  This way the monkeys can teach each other how to act and react to certain stimuli that they might not have ever experienced before.  More recently, we have seen that this practice has allowed one of the ex-pet monkeys here to learn normal marmoset vocalizations that he had never heard before arriving here.  Finally, and most importantly, all monkeys in a captive setting need constant and regular enrichment.  A study done at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Lab actually showed that marmosets in captivity showed less signs of stress when the occurrences of environmental enrichment increased.  Therefore, it is extremely important to always have something that the monkeys can manipulate (chew, tear, pull apart, etc.) in their enclosures. 

While understanding where these monkeys come from cannot change what they have already been through, it can provide an explanation for some of their behaviors and help us care for their specific needs. Pacific Primate Sanctuary continues to rehabilitate and care for laboratory primates and protect their future generations so they will never have to endure the same negative experiences.

Sources:

The Common Marmoset, Primate Info Net, WNPRC, pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheet/entry/common_marmoset/cons

Current Common Marmoset Behavioral Research, Primate Info Net, WNPRC, pin.primate.wisc.edu/callicam/research9.html

The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates, Committee on Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates, Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council, http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4909 (free on-line copy)

We hope you have enjoyed this issue of Pacific Primate Sanctuary’s  E-Newsletter.  Thank you for your support of our life saving work. Because of compassionate people, the Sanctuary can continue to provide a place of peace and happiness for 70 primates saved from research laboratories, animal dealers, and smugglers.  Here they can heal, form families, and live free from exploitation.

“No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it.
 We must learn to see the world anew.”
                                —Albert Einstein


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