CONTINUING EDUCATION
Intern
Mary- Special Topic
Community ecology. How do capuchins interact with
their local communities and influence their environments?
Capuchins play several
different roles within their environment. They act as predators, seed
dispersers, pollinators, and prey for other species. As a predator the capuchin
feeds mainly on insects. Capuchins spend a large portion of their time
searching for insects and specialize in finding those that are typically
hidden. Pulling the bark off of trees to uncover insects is one method
capuchins use. They are also able to distinguish between branches full of
insects and those without any just by tapping the branch and listening. If a
branch is full of insects the capuchin will break it off the tree and bite it
open to access the prey inside. They will also turn over stones and reach into
holes to find prey.
Although insects are a more common prey for the
capuchin it is not unusual for them to consume vertebrate prey such as lizards,
birds, squirrels, and bats. Adult males do the majority of vertebrate prey
hunting while adult females and juveniles are more frequently seen taking eggs
and hatchlings. It is rare for capuchins to hunt cooperatively but cooperative
hunting behavior, where monkeys work together to capture prey, has been seen
among capuchins.
Capuchins
regularly fall prey to carnivores such as jaguars, coyotes, pumas, snakes, and
large raptors. To prevent predation capuchins take advantage of living in large
groups, which allows for more protection. Alarm calling tells group members
when a predator is present and being in large groups allows capuchins to mob
predators. Mobbing is generally led by adult and subadult males who break large
branches, dropping them on the predator, alarm call and make loud vocalizations
discouraging the predator from approaching.
Pollination
by capuchins occurs when the monkeys rub against pollen producing plants.
Capuchins do not typically feed on flowers but will occasionally stick their
face into a flower to obtain nectar. This action in turn ends up covering their
fur with the pollen, which the capuchin may then transfer to other plants.
Consuming fruit is very common for capuchins allowing them to act as seed
dispersers. Small seeds are swallowed whole and typically pass through the
capuchins digestive system intact allowing them to be dispersed in the feces.
Large seeds are often picked out of a fruit and dropped by the monkeys.
Foraging on the ground also allows for seed dispersal as capuchins sort through
leaf litter spreading out seeds as they go.
Although
Prospero and Miracle, the capuchins here at Pacific Primate Sanctuary, do not
have to deal with the direct threat of predatory species they do engage in the
other behaviors mentioned above. It is not unusual to see Prospero and Miracle
chewing on branches or foraging through the plant matter on the floor of their
enclosure to access insects and disperse seeds. Predatory behavior on
vertebrates is not seen often by the capuchins here at PPS but the occasional
lizard may be eaten. As fruit is a component of the capuchins daily diet it is
very common for seeds to be dispersed throughout their enclosure.
Fragaszy,
D.M., Visalberghi, E., Fedigan, L.M. (2004) The Complete Capuchin: The Biology
of the Genus Cebus. UK. Cambridge University Press.
Prior to coming
to the Sanctuary, Intern Alli gained experience with marmosets by working as a
caretaker in a laboratory. She then came to PPS as a resident
Intern, Through the experience of working with the same species in
opposing settings, Alli has a very unique perspective which she was able to
share with us in the following, very moving, essay.
A Tale of
Two Monkeys: Brenda and Charlotte
Intern Allison,
Pacific Primate Sanctuary Intern 2010
Anyone who has walked the corridor at Pacific Primate
Sanctuary has known and loved Brenda.
She is a 15-year-old female White tufted ear marmoset with a sweet
demeanor, a love for the outdoors, and her devoted mate named Bruno (a once
solitary male who she helped socialize). She is the oldest female monkey in the
corridor, although her activity level would tell you otherwise, and she spends
as much time outside with Bruno as possible. As well as we all know Brenda here at PPS, many people don’t
know that she was born “CJ0396” at a large, well-known national research facility
in the Midwest. Why she was lucky
enough to be sent to Pacific Primate Sanctuary at 6 months old is unknown. Up until January of 2009, she had lived
a parallel, but completely opposite life to another female marmoset born in the
same year at the same research facility.
“CJ0130”, or Charlotte as her caregivers knew her, was
nearly 15-years-old already when I first met her while working at the lab. She stuck out like a sore thumb in a
room of 20 marmosets because of her missing ear tuft, her calm manner, and her
sweet face. She was a favorite
among the animal techs and vet staff alike because she had out-lived almost all
of the monkeys born within 5 years of her. She had been through countless studies, behavioral and
invasive, and had managed to survive to old age. Grapes were her favorite
fruit, since they were easy to juice with her uneven teeth, and I would often
sneak her and her partner an extra grape at snack whenever I could. And I was there that day in January
when she was anesthetized and brought to the necropsy room to be euthanized
because her weight had dropped below 300 grams. It will remain a mystery how two monkeys born in the same
year at the same national research facility could live out two completely
different lives nearly 6,000 miles apart, however they didn’t have to be so
different. While an animal’s life
in a research laboratory versus a sanctuary is fundamentally different because
the purpose, goals, and objectives of the two institutions are diametrically
opposed- an animal’s life in a lab can be greatly enhanced by making small
changes in daily care.
In a Biomedical Research Facility, the main goal of colony
management is to provide the ideal research subject to potential researchers.
The mental health of the subject is not necessarily always a factor as long as
they are physically “healthy”. The
more “healthy” subjects a facility can provide, the more researchers they will
attract and therefore, the more money they can bring in. It is for this reason that White tufted
ear marmosets, at a large lab in the Midwest, are kept in small metal portables
lining every room. Within each
portable are a metal carrier and two wooden dowels used as perches. Enrichment
is given once a week in the form of treats hidden in plastic toys, frozen
cubes, or cereal stuck in toilet paper rolls. Because of the smaller size of the enclosures, adolescent
monkeys are pulled from family groups in order to make room for newer siblings. And finally, because a colony must be
cared for as a whole using “herd health”, marmosets at this particular lab are
euthanized when their weight drops below 300 grams. These types of policies allow a research facility to operate
with maximum output (more monkeys) with minimal cost (smaller housing, and
little daily enrichment). These
facilities operate in this way because their definition of “humane” colony
management is based on and serves their goals and financial objectives.
Charlotte’s life and death were a result of this distorted
philosophy. I remember about a
month before Charlotte was euthanized I was sitting with the Associate Director
of Veterinary Services, who was inquiring about my upcoming internship at
PPS. I told him how excited I was
and I asked him if there was any way that I could take Charlotte with me, since
she was no longer considered an ideal candidate for research. He laughed the question off and said
there was no way a monkey her age would ever manage the trip successfully. A month later, I sat in an anteroom and
watched as Charlotte went to sleep for the last time. I couldn’t help but wonder, if Charlotte had made it to the
sanctuary and only lived one day in a lush green enclosure, wouldn’t that have
been better than bleeding out in the necropsy room of a research facility? And more so, how would it have been a
loss to the research facility?
In a sanctuary setting, like that at Pacific Primate
Sanctuary, the main goal is rehabilitation and restoration of the monkeys’
birthright. Monkeys are provided
food, shelter, and enrichment by volunteers, but are otherwise “free” to do
what monkeys should do. They spend
their days foraging in their jungle enclosures, grooming family members and
partners, basking in the sunlight, and playing in their natural worlds. Monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary
always have access to browse or greenery in which to manipulate, tear, rip
apart, and play with. In fact an
adolescent male was once observed using a large green leaf as a trampoline,
bouncing from the leaf to a branch above.
Most importantly, monkeys at Pacific Primate Sanctuary are given
individualized care addressing each of the monkey’s needs. They are not
euthanized when their weight drops.
In fact, there are a handful of White tufted ear marmosets (mostly
females) at Pacific Primate Sanctuary who have lived almost their entire lives
weighing less than 300 grams and are healthy and active- Brenda being one of
them.
Brenda arrived at Pacific Primate Sanctuary on March 29,
1995 along with six other White tufted ear marmosets from the same research
facility. She adjusted extremely
quickly to sanctuary living, having been sent at a young age. She was paired
with Bruno, a lone male sent from a different research facility, who was
un-socialized and didn’t share food well.
With Brenda’s patience and a caregiver’s gentle 3 month conditioning,
Bruno soon became an ideal mate. (This time consuming endeavor might not be
pursued in the laboratory and he would live a solitary existence.) While he is
still enthusiastic about his food, he no longer hoards or monopolizes the food
bowls. He now loves to groom and
play-wrestle with Brenda and they are rarely seen apart. Brenda has had two serious health
issues that have resulted in her having to be to be moved from her enclosure
into the infirmary for intensive, personalized care. This occurred once in December of 2004, when she was treated
for a GI issue, and again this year when we found she had tooth
infections. Both times she was
cared for until she was well again and returned to Bruno as good as new. Even though she has lived almost her
entire life weighing less than 300 grams, her weight is still monitored very
closely and she is given extras (avocado, sweet potato, Nutrical, oatmeal,
etc.) in her breakfast daily to keep her calorie intake high. This type of specialized care is one of
the main reasons she has lived such a long, high quality life. If Brenda were living in a research
laboratory, she would have been euthanized years ago.
Because of the fundamental differences between a biomedical
research facility and a sanctuary, the lives of the monkeys housed in each
could never be the same. However,
there can be vast improvements in the living situation of those housed in
research facilities that could even be cost effective to the labs. First, implementing weekly
environmental enrichment in the form of natural greenery, in Hawaii we use Ti
leaves, palm leaves, hibiscus flowers, etc., can elicit more natural behaviors
and has also been found to be a way for the monkeys to relieve stress. It can be difficult to understand just
how enriching foliage can be until you’ve watched a monkey tear it apart/carry
it around/manipulate it for the first time. The cost of this type of enrichment
could be kept down by making a partnership with a university greenhouse.
Another beneficial practice would be allowing the monkeys
to live with their natural families for a longer period of time. While I
recognize that there are limits to how many monkeys can live in a small
laboratory enclosure at once, I have also seen first hand the benefit of
allowing offspring to help rear their younger siblings. The first set of marmoset babies born
while I was at the research facility died within two days of each other because
the mother had never reared infants before (siblings or her own). Having experienced mothers and fathers
would decrease the amount of infant mortality in a laboratory setting.
Finally, implementing a more tailored herd health practice
(rather than just euthanizing all monkeys at a set weight) would allow for a
more diverse and less homogeneous colony of primates. Dr. Cathy Johnson-Delaney, President of the Association of
Exotic Mammal Veterinarians, established an alternative policy for a lab colony
that catered more to each individual marmoset’s weight. Extreme illness was defined as a monkey
losing 15-20% of their adult body weight.
This way, monkeys who usually balance around 300 grams are not
euthanized because they lost 10 grams (which would only be 3% of their adult
body weight, but would make them eligible for euthanization at the Midwest
lab.) Another option would be
sending those monkeys considered less ideal for experimentation (i.e. under 300 grams) to sanctuaries
where they can have more personalized care. The research industry might also consider that euthanizing a
monkey in a lab setting can be extremely costly. There is the cost of drugs to
first sedate a primate, then the cost of the personnel to perform the necropsy
and necropsy report, then the cost of blood tests and tissue tests (depending
on why the monkey needed euthanasia), and finally the monkey must be properly
disposed of. These are all costs that could be avoided if the euthanasia is
deemed unnecessary in the first place.
It is my personal hope that one day primate research will
be a thing of the past and will soon be considered an UNnecessary evil. That
day, unfortunately, is not today.
So instead we need to cooperatively work towards improving the lives of
those still living in a world of metal bars and constant fear. I am extremely thankful for each and
every monkey that Pacific Primate Sanctuary has been able to save over the past
30 years, however, I am constantly thinking about the hundreds of thousands of
primates still living compromised lives in biomedical research facilities
across the world.
We need to once again expand our philosophies, but this
time to accommodate a species other than our own. In fact, Dr. Jane Goodall
considers this the next step in human evolution. She writes:
"If only we can
overcome cruelty, to human and animal, with love and compassion we shall stand
at the threshold of a new era in human moral and spiritual evolution and
realize, at last, our most unique quality: humanity."
“If you
wish to experience peace, provide peace for another.”
— Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama
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 50 primates, many rescued from research laboratories, animal
dealers, and tourist attractions. Here they can heal, form social groups,
and live free from exploitation.
This Blog and its content is copyright of Pacific Primate Sanctuary, Inc.—
© Pacific Primate Sanctuary, Inc., 2009. All rights reserved.
Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following:
you may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only
you may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material
You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment