Laboratory Primate Newsletter

VOLUME 43 NUMBER 3 JULY 2004
Printable (PDF) Version of this issue

CONTENTS

Articles and Notes

Time Budgets of Macaca fascicularis in a Mangrove Forest, Vietnam, by Vo Dinh Son......1

Sniffing Their Way Around: Observations on Captive Owl Monkeys, by C. M. Chambers, J. E. Gossett, & S. Evans......5

Effective Data Management and Data Sharing in Nonhuman Primate Studies, by D. A. Smucny......8

Antibiotics for Colobus Monkeys? A Discussion......11

News, Information, and Announcements

Travelers’ Health Notes: New Definitions for Notices Regarding Diseases Abroad......4

Information Requested or Available......7
. . . Conservation and Behavioral Biology; Jackson Lab Courses and Meetings Website; More Interesting Websites

Meeting Announcements......10

Awards Granted......14
. . . Patricia Wright Honored by Madagascar; Australian Animal Welfare Awards; Animal Welfare Enhancement & Refinement Awards; Wurtz Recognized for Brain/Eye Research; The IPS Conservation Committee Small Grants

Grants Available: Pathogenesis of SARS Lung Disease......17

Resources Wanted and Available......18
. . . Fun Website for Kids; NCRR Releases New Fact Sheets; Community Conservation Project Needs Help; Primate Field Guide - Indonesia; AALAS Learning Library Primate Biosafety Course; Molecular Diagnostic Testing

Research and Educational Opportunities......19
. . . Postdoctoral Research Training - MDs and PhDs; Origins of Individual Differences in Impulsivity

Volunteer Opportunity......20
. . . Work with Baboons - South Africa; Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund - Rwanda; Primate Keepers Needed - Spain

Workshop Announcement: European Marmoset Research Group 8th Workshop......20

News Briefs......21
. . . Gorilla Shot After Escaping at Dallas Zoo; Will State Evict Morgan Island Monkeys? UWA to Control Animal-to-Human Infections; Mysterious Brazil Zoo Animal Deaths Rise to 73; Joe Goes Outdoors - Gorilla Haven; John Maynard Smith, 1920-2004; ILAR Addresses Transportation of Lab Animals; Pet Vervet Repatriated to Zambia from Singapore; Changes at AAALAC International; Eye Operation Performed on Macaque in Kerala Zoo; The Fight to Save the Eastern Lowland Gorilla; Gorilla Dies at San Francisco Zoo; Sierra Leone Sanctuary Receives U.S. Money; Second Gorilla Born at Denver Zoo

Departments

Primates de las Américas…La Página......13

Positions Available......15
. . . Clinical Veterinarian - Madison, Wisconsin; Campus Veterinarian, NHLBI; Chimp Haven - Louisiana; Primate Behavioral Ecology - New Jersey

Recent Books and Articles......24

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Time Budgets of Macaca fascicularis in a Mangrove Forest, Vietnam

Introduction

Time is limited for most animals. A day’s foraging must provide sufficient resources to avoid starvation, to maintain body condition, and perhaps to grow or to support reproduction (Di Fiore & Rodman, 2001). Individuals of many primate species forage together in groups. Groups with stable membership must have foraging patterns which enable all members to get their nutritional requirements. If this were not the case then individuals that could not get sufficient food would have to leave the group or die (Agetsuma, 1995).

Time budgets have been studied in many primate species (e.g., Propithecus verreauxi: Richard, 1978; Macaca fuscata: Yotsumoto, 1976; Maruhashi, 1981; Agetsuma & Nakagawa, 1998; Macaca fascicularis: Van Schaik et al., 1983; Macaca mulatta: Gupta & Sinna, 1992; Macaca silenus: Umapathy & Kumar, 2000; Lagothrix lagotricha: Di Fiore & Rodman, 2001; Colobus colobus, Neal & Forthman, 1996). In some species, time budgets are affected by a variety of demographic and environmental factors: sex, social rank, reproductive condition, and the degree of human disturbance in the region (Whitten, 1983; Muruthi et al., 1991; Di Fiore & Rodman, 2001).

This paper is the first detailed description of the time budgets of crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) in a mangrove forest. The information provided by this study is valuable because few papers have been published on activity patterns of primates living in mangrove forests. This study examines the influences of seasonal and tidal changes of their habitat on their time allocation and the plasticity of the time allocation of the species.

Methods

Species and study area: This study included three of four provisioned groups of crab-eating macaques dwelling in Can Gio Mangrove Park. Provisions are 60-100 g of boiled rice/animal/day, given each morning and late afternoon, plus sweet potatoes (as well as fruits given by tourists), and total about 25% of the animals’ total food. Provisioning ensures that the animals stay in the park and do not become agricultural pests. This macaque population is distributed throughout the core area of the park. The four groups used a total of 771 ha during the study period and the density was 62 animals/km2. Home range overlap among the groups is common. The study groups were named Khe Doi (141-170 members), Khe Dinh (89-145 members), and Lam Vien (26-36 members).

Can Gio Mangrove Park is located in the coastal area of Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam, at an altitude of about 0-1 m. The rainy season extends from May to October and the dry season from November to April.

The tide rises twice a day, once at night and again in the daytime. On the 29th, 30th, 1st (new moon), 2nd, 3rd, 13th, 14th, 15th (full moon), 16th, and 17th of each month of the lunar calendar there are especially high tides (called “spring” tides). At high tide on these days, the forest is almost flooded for three hours (Nam et al., 1994) and the macaques go into the drier parts of the forest to escape the rising waters. For details of the macaques and study area see Nam et al. (1994) and Son (2002, 2003a).

Data collection: The present study followed the observational methods used in several previous studies (Richard, 1978, Fragazy et al., 1992, Neal & Forthman, 1996).

Behavioral data were collected using focal animal sampling (Altmann, 1974). A selected monkey was followed and observed from 06:00 to 18:00. Activities of the monkey were recorded at 30-second intervals as long as the monkey was visible. Thirty seconds were considered the minimum time necessary for recording activities of an individual in the mangrove forest condition. The number of records made at 30-second intervals during which the animal engaged in each activity will be referred to as “time spent” in that activity (Altmann, 1974).

Data were collected over 22 months between January, 2000, and October, 2001. The contact time with 105 focal individuals belonging to the three groups was 105 days, a total of 1260 hours.

The following seven categories describe activities:
1. Resting: sitting, lying, or sleeping on branches.
2. Foraging: searching for food. There are two types of foraging: * Arboreal foraging: looking for plant items or insects, or breaking apart branches to look for wood-boring caterpillars (Zeuzera spp.) (Son, 2003b). * Terrestrial foraging: manipulating aquatic substrates actively to search for Brachyura (crab suborder) species, Bankia saulii (shipworms), or other animals (Son, 2003b).
3. Eating.
4. Moving.
5. Grooming: grooming or being groomed by another.
6. Threatening: making vocal, facial, or gestural threats against others.
7. Fighting.

Data analysis: Statistical tests were conducted using Microsoft Excel and MINITAB 12 software. A t-test was used to examine the significance of the differences between means. The following methods were used for data analysis:

• The time spent on each category of activity was calculated by summing the total number of recorded observations for each category and expressing it as a percentage of the total number of all recorded observations.
• Daily percentage of time spent on each category of activity was calculated by dividing that time by the total time spent on all activities that day.
• For monthly percentage of time spent on each category of activity, I averaged the time spent on each category of activity over the days of each month.
• Dry (or rainy) season percentage of time spent in each activity was calculated by dividing the total time spent in each category of activity by the total observation time in the dry (or rainy) season periods.
• To compare time budgets between the spring tide days and other days, I converted the solar calendar days into lunar calendar days and averaged the time spent on each category of activities for each period.

Results

The diurnal activities of a group began at 6 a.m. at sleeping trees with a short foraging travel to the provisioning site. This major bout of feeding, about one-half to one hour, was followed by moving into the forest where the group searched for wild foods. Between 12:00 h and 13:00 h the group rested. During this time macaques either slept, played, or groomed. Juveniles often swam or played in the water, jumping down into the water from branches 1 to 3 m high. After resting, macaques continued searching for food while moving back towards the provisioning site. Between 15:00 h and 16:00 h they were fed by park staff and then moved to sleeping trees from 17:30-18:00 h. The areas in which macaques foraged varied from day to day.

The following are some general descriptions of their daily activities. When moving, macaques walked on the ground or jumped from stilt roots of one Rhizophora (red mangrove) tree to another at a distance of 0.5-2 m. During their search for daily food in the forest, a group often swam across 2-4 canals or rivers. When they moved back towards the feeding site, they took almost the same route as they had taken before. In some cases, all the members of a group stopped to forage at a site for 0.5-1 h. In other cases, they continued moving in search of food.

Time budgets: Throughout the year, most time (34.1%) was spent resting. Other activities were: moving, foraging, and eating (total of 54.8%); grooming (8.4%); and other social activities such as playing, fighting, and threatening (total of 2.3%). The proportion of time they allocated to these categories varied from month to month.

Influence of environmental changes on time budgets: The distribution area of the macaques was affected cyclically by the tide. Eight days in each month of the lunar calendar, the forest was flooded for 3 hours in the daytime, and this is the time the groups foraged deeper in the forest, where it was drier. In the analysis, I considered whether the tide affected time allocation of the groups. I also examined seasonal changes. The data collected was organized as follows (Table 1):

• Time budgets of the spring tide days and other days.
• Time budgets of the dry and rainy seasons.

.	Resting	Moving	Grooming	Eating	Arboreal foraging	Terrestrial foraging	Other activities
Dry season (n = 51)	31.66+/- 10.22	17.67 +/-6.21	9.2+/- 6.51	9.85+/- 4.43	9.77+/- 11.44	19.79+/- 8.98	2.02+/- 2.20
Rainy season (n=54)	36.47+/- 11.93*	18.1+/- 7.17	7.18 +/- 4.03	10.38+/- 3.63	6.66 +/- 6.24	18.33 +/- 11.23	2.85 +/- 2.35
Spring tide days (n= 28)	36.83 +/- 10.73*	15.12 +/- 6.21	8.98+/- 4.42	11.2 +/- 4.92	6.41 +/- 7.77	18.81+/- 8.51	2.61 +/- 0.92
Other tidal days (n=77)	31.16 +/- 11.36	18.9+/- 6.22 **	8.86 +/- 5.78	10.72 +/- 3.6	8.81 +/- 9.67	19.13 +/- 10.77	2.37+/- 0.36

Table 1: Percent of time spent on each activity category relative to seasonal and tidal changes.
n = days of observation * p < 0.05 **p < 0.01

Comparison of time budgets between the three groups: Table 2 shows a comparison of time budgets among the three groups, with special reference to arboreal and terrestrial foraging. In the mangrove forest, macaques search for plant items, insects, or wood-boring caterpillars (Zeuzera sp.) during arboreal foraging, while they look for macrobenthos (organisms, e.g., insect larvae, shrimps, and other crustaceans, living in or on aquatic substrates and large enough to be seen with the naked eye) during terrestrial foraging. The difference was summarized as follows: · In Lam Vien group, there were no differences between time spent on arboreal foraging and terrestrial foraging throughout the year, whereas the Khe Dinh group and Khe Doi group spent three times more time on terrestrial foraging than on arboreal foraging. · Lam Vien group spent 33.81% of their time foraging (terrestrially and arboreally), while the Khe Dinh and Khe Doi group spent 24.85% and 25.08%, respectively.

Group	.	Resting	Moving	Grooming	Eating	Arboreal foraging	Terrestrial foraging	Other activities
Lam Vien days = 27	(%) SD	27.57 8.859	21.31 6.89	5.54 3.64	9.8 3.9	17.16 12.70	16.65 10.56	1.96 2.40
Khe Doi days = 29	(%) SD	35.89* 10.54	18.34 6.11	8.82* 5.14	9 3.4	4.80 4.18	20.28 11.12	2.84 2.50
Khe Dinh days = 49	(%) SD	36.72** 11.60	15.75 6.18	9.22* 6.05	11 4.3	5.22 5.09	19.63 9.34	2.48 2.13

Table 2: Average proportion (mean%) and standard deviation (SD) of time spent on each activity category of the three groups of Can Gio macaques. * P < 0.01 , ** P < 0.001.

When monkeys feed on macrobenthos, which are high quality food, they (Khe Doi, Khe Dinh groups) need less foraging time to obtain sufficient food; in consequence the resting and grooming times of these two groups were higher than that of Lam Vien group (Table 2).

This study suggests that feeding on macrobenthos influenced mangrove macaques’ time allocation.

Discussion

Some authors have proposed that increased group size increases feeding competition, which results in increased traveling (Van Schaik et al, 1983; Gillespie et al., 2001). Gillespie et al. (2001) reported that large groups traveled more and rested less than small groups. However, the present study does not agree with these previous studies. Between 1999 and 2001, the size of Lam Vien group ranged from 26 to 36 members while the sizes of Khe Doi and Khe Dinh groups varied from 89 to 170. However, time spent moving and searching for food in Lam Vien group was higher than those of the larger groups (Table 2). Lam Vien group spent 60.65% of time feeding on plants, while Khe Doi and Khe Dinh groups spent 31.6% and 34.16%, respectively (Son, 2003b). When monkeys feed on low quality food, e.g., plants, this could cause the increased feeding time in the smaller group.

The results reported here suggest that the diet composition and feeding behavior of Can Gio crab-eating macaques influenced time allocation of the groups more than group size did, and that feeding on macrobenthos living in aquatic substrates affected time allocation on other activities. This study provides support for Saj et al.’s 1999 result that a reduction in time spent feeding is associated with an increase in time spent resting.

Comparison between time budgets in the dry season and the rainy season revealed that seasonal changes in the forest have almost no influence on the groups’ activities, except for an increase of time resting during the rainy season, because the macaques would cease their activities until the rain let up (DiFiore & Rodman, 2001). The tide influenced group activity. Spring tide decreased time spent moving and increased resting time. The comparison of the daily range in the spring tide days with that of other days indicated that there were no differences in daily travel distances (Son, unpublished data). After flooding from the spring tide subsides, the macaques move more rapidly than usual and search for macrobenthos to gain sufficient food for the day.

Foraging for macrobenthos after the spring tide flood subsided is a characteristic feeding behavior of crab-eating macaques in the mangrove forest, and is quite different from that of inland populations. This adaptive mechanism in behavior may be related to ecological conditions, and macaques may strategically forage intensively for animal foods in periods of high macrobenthos abundance in the area. These results raise the possibility that such an opportunistic behavior has an impact on daily time allocation of the species.

References

Agetsuma, N., & Nakagawa, N. (1998). Effects of habitat differences on feeding behaviors of Japanese monkeys: Comparison between Yakushima and Kinkazan. Primates, 39, 275-289.

Agetsuma, N. (1995). Foraging synchrony in a group of Yakushima macaques (Macaca fuscata yakui). Folia Primatologica, 64, 167-179.

Altmann, J. (1974). Observational study of behavior: Sample methods. Behaviour, 49, 227-267.

DiFiore, A. D., & Rodman, P. S. (2001). Time allocation pattern on lowland woolly monkey (Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii) in a Neotropical terra firma forest. International Journal of Primatology, 22, 449-480.

Fragaszy, D. M., Boinski, S., & Whipple, J. (1992). Behavioral sampling in the field: Comparison of individual and group sampling method. American Journal of Primatology, 26, 259-275.

Gillespie, T. R., & Chapman, C. A. (2001). Determinant of group size in the red colobus monkey (Procolobus badius): An evolution of generality of the ecological-constraints model. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 50, 329-338.

Gupta, B. K., & Sinha, A. K. (1992). The activity and budget pattern in Macaca mulatta: A comparative study. Zoos’ Print, 7[10], 10-11.

Maruhashi, T. (1981). Activity patterns of a troop of Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata yakui) on Yahushima Island, Japan. Primates, 22, 1-14.

Nam, V. N., Thuy, N. S., & Thao, H. C. (1994). Report on vegetational cover and mangrove forest resources of Quarter 17, Can Gio mangrove forest (in Vietnamese). Ho Chi Minh City: Association of Forestry Technology Science.

Neal, W., & Forthman, D. (1996). Activity budgets of Angolan colobus Colobus angolensis in a naturalistic zoo habitat. African Primates, 2, 19-22.

Richard, A. F. (1978). Behavioural variation: Case study of a Malagasy lemur. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press.

Saj, T., Sicotte, P., & Paterson, J. D. (1999). Influence of human food consumption on the time budget of vervets. International Journal of Primatology, 20, 977-994.

Son, V. D. (2002a). Hematological values of Macaca fascicularis in a Mangrove forest, Vietnam. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 41[4], 1-4, <www.brown.edu/primate/lpn41-4.html#son>.

Son, V. D. (2002b). Intestinal parasites of Macaca fascicularis in a mangrove forest, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 41[2], 4-5, <www.brown.edu/primate/lpn41-2.html#mangrove>.

Son , V. D. (2003a). Morphology of Macaca fascicularis in a mangrove forest, Vietnam. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 42[2], 9-11, <www.brown.edu/primate/lpn42-2.html#son>.

Son, V. D. (2003b). Diet of Macaca fascicularis in a mangrove forest, Vietnam. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 42[4], 1-5, <www.brown.edu/primate/lpn42-4.html#diet>.

Umapathy, G., & Kumar, A. (2000). Impacts of the habitat fragment on time budget and feeding ecology of lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus) in rain forest fragments of Anamalais Hills, South India. Primate Report, 58, 67-82.

Van Schaik, C. P., Van Noordwijk, M. A., de Boer, R. J., & Den Tonkelaar, I. (1983). The effect of group size on time budgets and social behaviour in wild long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 13, 173-181.

Yotsumoto, N. (1976). The daily activity rhythm in a troop of wild Japanese monkey. Primates, 17, 183-204.

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Travelers’ Health Notes: New Definitions for Notices Regarding Diseases Abroad

The new notices are as follows:

• In the News. This notice provides information about sporadic cases of disease or an occurrence of disease of public health concern affecting a traveler or travel destination. At this level, the risk for an individual traveler does not differ from the usual risk in that area.
• Outbreak Notice. Information is provided regarding a disease outbreak in a limited geographic area or setting. The risk for travelers is defined and limited, and the notice reminds travelers about standard or enhanced travel recommendations such as vaccination.
• Travel Health Precaution. Specific information is provided to travelers regarding a disease outbreak of greater scope and over a larger geographic area, aimed at reducing the risk for infection. This precaution also provides guidance to travelers about what to do if they become ill while in the area. At this level, CDC does not recommend against travel to a specific area, but might recommend limiting exposure to a defined setting (e.g., poultry farms or health-care facilities).
• Travel Health Warning. A recommendation is issued against nonessential travel to an area because a disease of public health concern is expanding beyond the locales or populations that were affected initially. The purpose of a travel warning is to reduce the volume of traffic to affected areas, limiting the risk for spreading the disease to unaffected areas.

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Sniffing Their Way Around: Observations on Captive Owl Monkeys

Introduction

Owl monkeys, the only nocturnal New World monkeys, have well-developed visual and olfactory systems that are unique: they have the largest eye orbits and olfactory bulbs in relation to body size of any New World primate (Martin, 1990). Their large eyes and susceptibility to certain diseases have made owl monkeys extremely important in biomedical research (Baer et al., 1994).

The DuMond Conservancy houses a colony of approximately 50 owl monkeys, many of which have been retired from biomedical research, including a small number which are visually impaired due to eye surgery. In spite of their obvious handicap, these visually impaired monkeys have adjusted successfully to a new, relatively complex, captive environment. Nightly health monitoring of an elderly, visually impaired female owl monkey revealed she had very high frequencies of sniffing and scent marking as she navigated her way around her home cage. Based on this observation, we predicted that visually impaired monkeys use olfactory cues to navigate. In this study, we compare the rates of sniffing and scent marking between visually impaired owl monkeys and their sighted cage companions.

Methods

Subjects/Housing: Our subjects consisted of six adult mated pairs of owl monkeys, with each pair made up of one sighted and one visually impaired monkey, as described in Table 1. The individuals that were karyotyped were of two species: Aotus nancymaae (karyotype I) or Aotus azare (karyotype VI). Visual acuity was determined by ophthalmological examinations and behavioral observations when the monkeys were first released into their enclosures. An infant was born to one pair during the study, and a widowed, visually impaired male’s (Rhett) sighted daughter was removed and replaced with an unrelated, sighted female and her four-month-old offspring.

Name	Sex	Age	Species	Visual Acuity
Chewbacca	M	13	Not Karyotyped	Sighted
Missy	F	9+	Not Karyotyped	Impaired (may see movements)
Galileo	M	17	Aotus azarae boliviensis	Severely Impaired
Georgia	F	12	A. azarae boliviensis	Sighted
Stevie	M	7	A. nancymaae	Impaired
Lil Kim	F	6+	A. nancymaae	Sighted
Carradog	M	11	A. nancymaae	Severely Impaired
Rose	F	5	A. nancymaae	Sighted
Rhett	M	20+	A. nancymaae	Severely Impaired
Electra	F	5	A. nancymaae	Sighted
Onassis	M	9	Not Karyotyped	Sighted
Puck	F	8	Not Karyotyped	Impaired

Table 1: Six Aotus pairs.

The pairs were housed in outdoor cylindrical wire cages measuring either 2.44 m in diameter x 2.44 m in height or 3 m x 3 m. Each cage was furnished with eight evenly spaced PVC poles used for travel, extending across the diameter of the cage; a wooden nest box; a wire shelf; and a Lixit watering device. The cages were spot cleaned daily and the bases hosed once per week. In order to minimize disruption of the olfactory environment of the owl monkeys over the duration of this study, the poles and cages were cleaned only as needed and observations were not conducted for several days after the poles were cleaned. The cage that housed Galileo and Georgia had an unusually strong odor.

The poles were all configured similarly in each cage; however there was some variation in the locations of the nest boxes, feeding sites, and Lixit. The animals were fed once a day, at dusk, their normal diet consisting of Monkey Diet, Fiber-Plus Monkey Diet, and New World Primate Diet (all from PMI® Nutrition International), and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Pregnant or lactating females received supplements during the day. All the owl monkeys foraged for insects that wandered into the cages.

Data Collection: The observation sessions were conducted two evenings per week for approximately one hour per session. Observations commenced within twenty minutes of nightfall and all subjects were fed approximately 30 minutes before each observation session began. Each individual was observed continuously for 20-minute focal animal observation periods, for a total of five hours of observation per individual. Two observers collected data on the pairs simultaneously. Inter-observer reliability tests were conducted prior to the observation sessions to ensure the accuracy of the data collection, with observer agreement measured at approximately 85%. Flashlights covered with red cellophane were used to aid in the observations. We used schematic representations of the cages to record the frequencies and locations of all occurrences of sniffing, scent marking, and urine washing of each member of the pair, and defined each behavior pattern as follows:

• Sniffing - a short activity less than 2 seconds in duration in which the muzzle is brought close to the substrate.
• Scent Marking - rapid side-to-side movements of the circumgenital region against the substrate (Moynihan, 1964).
• Urine Washing - moistening the palms of the hands or soles of the feet with urine (Moynihan, 1964).

Results

All 12 owl monkeys were observed sniffing their travel routes and seven monkeys scent marked these routes. Urine washing was observed in only one pair (Georgia and Galileo) and both participated in the activity.

Figure 1: Rates of sniffing along travel routes in six male-female pairs of owl monkeys.

In five pairs, the visually impaired monkeys sniffed more than their sighted mates (sign test, p>0.05) and, overall, visually impaired monkeys sniffed more than sighted monkeys (Mann-Whitney U test, p>0.05), despite one sighted individual (Georgia) having the highest rate of sniffing (see Figure 1). In the five pairs in which at least one monkey scent marked, visually impaired monkeys scent marked more than their sighted mates (sign test, p>0.05) and, overall, the visually impaired monkeys scent marked more than sighted individuals (Mann-Whitney U test, p>0.05); see Figure 2.

There was a striking correlation in rates of sniffing between the sighted and visually impaired monkey in each mated pair (Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficient, p>0.01, rs=0.971). Despite the fact that the visually impaired monkeys tended to be older, there was no correlation between age and either scent marking or sniffing and no consistent sex difference was evident.

Figure 2: Rates of scent marking along travel routes in six male-female pairs of owl monkeys.

Discussion

The visually impaired owl monkeys were found to sniff and scent mark the poles in their cages more than their sighted mates. In nature and in a semi-free ranging environment, foraging owl monkeys tend to reuse the same paths night after night (Wright, 1985; Bolen & Green, 1997), which suggests that the monkeys may be marking their travel routes by depositing scent marks on trails (Wright, 1989).

One sighted female (Georgia) and her visually impaired companion (Galileo) had extremely high rates of sniffing and scent marking, which was not necessarily surprising as rates of sniffing between mates were correlated. This pair was distinguished from the other five because they were a different species (Aotus azarae vs. A. nancymaae) and this pair was the only one observed to urine-wash, which undoubtedly contributed to the cage’s strong odor.

This study documents that visually impaired owl monkeys can be successfully rehabilitated: our owl monkeys appeared adept at navigating their surroundings through the use of their well-developed olfactory senses. These observations of successful navigation of a familiar environment by visually impaired monkeys are consistent with anecdotal reports of blind primates (McGreal, 1991, pers. obs.).

Unpublished colony records reveal that the visually impaired individuals have been successful breeders and have displayed normal parental behavior. They also foraged for insects successfully.

These findings correspond with what we know about the biology of owl monkeys. Studies have demonstrated heavy reliance of these monkeys on olfactory cues (Bolen & Green, 1997). Furthermore, our visually impaired owl monkeys, like many other handicapped primates, appear to live full, rich lives (Zeller, 2002).

References

Baer, J., Weller, R. E., & Kakoma, I. (Eds.). (1994). Aotus: The owl monkey. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Bicca-Marques, J. C., & Garber, P. A. (2002). The use of visual, olfactory, and spatial information during foraging in wild nocturnal and diurnal anthropoids: A comparison among Aotus, Callicebus, and Saguinus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology (Suppl.), 32, 45.

Bolen, R. H., & Green, S. M. (1997). Use of olfactory cues in foraging by owl monkeys (Aotus nancymai) and capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 111, 152-158.

Martin, R. D. (1990). Primate origins and evolution: A phylogenetic reconstruction. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

McGreal, S. (1991). International Primate Protection League - Beanie (personal observations). Retrieved July, 2003, from <www.ippl.org/beanie.html>.

Moynihan, M. (1964). Some behavior patterns of platyrrhine monkeys: I. The night monkey (Aotus trivirgatus). Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 146[5].

Wright, P. C. (1985). The costs and benefits of nocturnality for Aotus trivirgatus (the night monkey). Unpublished doctoral dissertation, City University of New York.

Wright, P. C. (1989). The nocturnal primate niche in the New World. Journal of Human Evolution, 18, 635-658.

Zeller, A. (2002). Handicapped primates. Unpublished manuscript, presented at the 2002 meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans.

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Information Requested or Available

The Animal Behavior Society Conservation Committee has compiled a list of review and conceptually based publications on the interface of conservation and behavioral biology. The references in the list provide an overview on how conservation efforts have been aided through a better understanding of behavior. See <www.animalbehavior.org/ABS/Conservation/ccrefs.html>.

Jackson Lab Courses and Meetings Website

The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, has redesigned their Courses and Meetings Website “to better meet user needs. The site now contains dynamic pages fed from a database, providing instant updates and more current information. We have added search features by keyword and also by subject areas to help you narrow down the list of events to meet your own interests. Over the next few months we will phase in more features. See <www.jax.org/courses/events/current.do>; and you can also find us on the <www.jax.org> home page.”

More Interesting Websites

• American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine’s Position Statement on Animal Experimentation: <www.aclam.org/PDF/pub_animal_experimentation.pdf>
• Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe (new URL): <www.berggorilla.de/english/frame.html>
• Guidelines for the Housing and Management of Orang utans (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abeli), by L. Cocks: <www.seaza.org/animal_husbandry/australasian_species_management_orang_utan.htm>
• Link to Callitrichid Husbandry Manual (Available in English and Spanish): <www.csew.com/newworldprimate/>
• Healthy Animals, animal health-related research news, published by the Agricultural Research Service: <www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/ha/>
• Husbandry and Management of the Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus) in the Singapore Zoological Gardens, by N. de Graff et al.: <www.seaza.org/animal_husbandry/husbandry_and_management_of_the_proboscis_monkey.htm>
• Journal of Animal Technology’s 1989-2001 Index: <www.iat.org.uk>
• Lab. Animal Refinement & Enrichment Forum photos: <www.awionline.org/lab_animals/LAREF/LAREFphotos.html>
• Occupational Primate Disease Safety Guidelines for Zoological Institutions: <www.aazv.org/PRIMATESAFETYGUIDELINES.htm>
• Policy on Exhibiting Primates in New South Wales: <www.agric.nsw.gov.au/reader/aw-exhibited/aw-primates.pdf>
• Practical enrichment options for animals kept in research institutions: <www.awionline.org/lab_animals/LAREF/enriop.htm>
• Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar: <info.bio.sunysb.edu/rano.biodiv>

* * *

Effective Data Management and Data Sharing in Nonhuman Primate Studies

The “3-Ds” of Data Management and Sharing

Primatologists collaborate by sharing data with local researchers, by exchanging data with other colonies and facilities, and by accessing multi-center databases. Data sharing is likely to increase in the future, particularly with greater interest in studies that require longitudinal data over lifespans or across generations (e.g., aging research and studies of lineage or demographics), and with limited numbers of primates in captivity. In order to facilitate such data sharing, it is imperative that data should be managed effectively, efficiently, and clearly.

Data management and data sharing are made more effective through implementation of some practical guidelines. In addition to computer software and hardware issues, researchers and data managers should concern themselves with the following guidelines for good data practices (“3-Ds”):

• Data standards: What minimal animal information is available in consistent format for all colonies that are sharing data?
• Data definitions: How are variables defined? Are these definitions consistent between, and within, colony databases?
• Data validation: How can we ensure data accuracy? How can we detect errors in data gathering or data entry?

Data Standards: What to Share, and in What Format?

“Data standards” refers to the minimum parameters needed for detailed demographic analyses and for the construction and analysis of extended pedigrees. Dyke (1993) proposed a set of simple standards for primate colony data. Standards relate to single-entry records, as well as multiple-entry data files. The 14 variables for the standard single-entry registry record structure (for each animal), as proposed by Dyke, include: (1) Animal ID, (2) sire ID, (3) dam ID, (4) sex, (5) date of birth (DOB), (6) entry date, (7) acquisition code, (8) exit date, (9) exit code, (10) taxonomic code, (11) institution code, (12) local subgroup code, (13) current location code, (14) end of record character (Dyke, 1993, p. 133). According to Dyke’s data standards, variables 1-9 must be present for any demographic and/or pedigree analysis, while variables 10-13 are considered optional. Item 14 is important to ensure that all records are the same length, for a uniform data format and more effective data sharing.

Data standards ensure that a minimum amount of information is available for all colonies. Uniform standards across colonies make it easy and cost-effective to assemble information into a consistent format.

Data Definitions: How Are Variables Defined?

It is critical for researchers and data managers to clearly define the variables in their records, and to keep accurate and clear records of the “data definitions”, not only for data sharing, but also for within-colony database management. Data managers and data-entry personnel must see to it that data are consistent, and that data definitions are reviewed routinely.

Some basic examples of the importance of data definitions to data sharing and to database management include multiple meanings of variables. To one colony, “entry date” might be defined as the date when an animal entered a colony, if it was not born to that colony. To another colony, “entry date” may be defined both as birth date (into colony) and entry date for an animal coming into colony (i.e., not born there).

As new personnel enter projects, it is imperative to keep data definitions consistent, especially for long-term studies in which changes in student assistants, postdoctoral scientists, and other staff regularly occur.

Precise and consistent “data definitions” are especially needed for any and all studies employing archived records. It is important to know how variables are defined as colonies or studies progress with time, and if these definitions ever have been changed or revised.

Data Validation: How Do We Ensure Data Accuracy?

When reviewing or sharing data, researchers may be faced with data that do not make “biological sense” or that seem to contain entry errors. From a data management standpoint, it is best to check or review data regularly for errors. For small colonies, data managers may run summary statistics on database variables regularly. Outliers then can be identified and reviewed for possible errors in data entry. For example, interbirth intervals can be routinely calculated and reviewed, in order to see if such values make “biological sense”. Similarly, birth, entry, transfer, and death dates can be routinely reviewed to detect errors in data entry.

Such “biological checks” are done easily with simple programming (e.g., script commands, such as those described in Veeraraghavan, 2002) to ensure data accuracy, and to detect possible errors. “Data validation” can identify not only entry errors, but also any special circumstances regarding the animals. For example, a very short interbirth interval could indicate an aborted pregnancy. Such information then may be logged with a special comment or code for future reference.

An Example from Nonhuman Primate Research

Many relevant examples of data sharing and multi-centered databases may be found in current biological and biomedical research. Nonhuman primate databases for laboratory primates include the Tumor Register (German Primate Center) and the Primate Aging Database (Wisconsin National Primate Research Center). A nonhuman primate database currently in development is a reproductive/demographic database with information from five different common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) colonies. Table I provides a basic description of this large, multi-colony database, which provides information about basic reproductive life history in captive common marmosets. The database contains a large sample of individuals, particularly dams with known birth dates. The sharing of such data between marmoset colonies allows for larger sample sizes, and increased power for statistical analyses. Using the database, factors important for reproductive demography and reproductive variation in this species may be better examined and explored.

Institution	Year of 1st recorded birth in colony	Range for known DOB for animals in colony (as of last update to database)	Number of known-aged dams	Number of known-aged sires	Total number of individuals (infants, juveniles and adults) with known DOB
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil	1992	1990-2000	49	46	406
New England NPRC, Southborough, MA	1980	1978-2002	165	135	1989
Marmoset Research Center, Oak Ridge, TN	1978	1975-1992	116	98	984
Southwest NPRC, San Antonio, TX	1994	1987-2004	40	40	341
Wisconsin NPRC, Madison, WI	1991	1982-2002	119	113	993
TOTAL	.	.	489	432	4713

Table I. Description of the common marmoset multi-colony database (modified and updated from Tardif et al., 2003)

The demographic database provides a larger sample size to examine questions about marmoset reproduction, as well as comparisons between the different colonies (Tardif et al., 2003). Lifespan and breeding information are important for this species, since its use as an animal model in human biomedical research is increasing (Abbott et al., 2003).

The “3-Ds” in the Marmoset Database

The data variables provided by the five marmoset colonies, along with their definitions, are found in Table II. All data have been checked for accuracy of birth, entry, transfer, and death dates. Mate changes also have been tracked in the breeding pairs. Entry of the data into the PEDSYS data program (Dyke, 1996) also helped to locate errors in dates and identification codes. As the marmoset demographic data have been updated and prepared for analysis, additional data checks have been routinely undertaken for “biologically relevant” variables such as interbirth interval, litter sizes, and weaned litter sizes.

Of the “3-Ds”, I find that “Data Standards” require additional attention for most primate colonies. Although all colony databases possess the variables of interest, there is no real standardization of archived records across most colonies to allow ease of data sharing.

Conclusions

The success of data sharing and multi-center data projects depends on effective, clear, and open communication between researchers, data managers, and data entry personnel. The data management guidelines suggested here will enhance both prospective and archived data projects. The common marmoset demographic database project is an excellent example of successful implementation of these practices.

VARIABLE	DEFINITION
ID	Animal identification code
BIRTH	Birth date
SIRE	Sire ID
DAM	Dam ID
SEX	Coded as male, female or unknown
EXIT	Death date
SITE	Colony code
ENTRY DATE	Entry date, if entered colony from another site
BIRTH STATUS	Coded as abort, live or stillbirth
TRANSFER DATE	Transfer date, if animal moved out from colony
REPROX DATE	Date of Ovariectomy, Vasectomy or Castration (if applicable)

Table II. List of variables (with brief definition) provided by each colony for common marmoset reproductive and demographic database.

References

Abbott, D. H., Barnett, D. K., Colman, R. .J., Yamamoto, M. E., & Schultz-Darken, N. J. (2003). Aspects of common marmoset basic biology and life history important for biomedical research. Comparative Medicine, 53, 339-350.

Dyke, B. (1993). Basic data standards for primate colonies. American Journal of Primatology, 29, 125-143.

Dyke, B. (1996). PEDSYS: A pedigree data management system. Version 2.0. San Antonio, TX: Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research. <www.sfbr.org/public/software/pedsys/pedsys.html>

Tardif, S. D., Smucny, D. A., Abbott, D. H., Mansfield, K., Schultz-Darken, N., & Yamamoto, M. E. (2003). Reproduction in captive common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). Comparative Medicine, 53, 364-368.

Veeraraghavan, S. (2002). Sams Teach Yourself Shell Programming in 24 Hours. (3rd ed.). Indianapolis, IN: Sams.

* * *

Meeting Announcements

The 22nd Annual Symposium on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS will be held November 3-6, 2004, hosted by the Southwest National Primate Research Center at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas. The latest findings in pathogenesis, primate immunology and genomics, virology, vaccines, and therapeutics will be presented. The symposium will encompass five half-day scientific sessions and a poster session. In addition, there will be an invited keynote opening speaker and a banquet speaker, who will address scientific approaches and concerns regarding the global AIDS crisis and related issues of public health. Contact Barbara Gault [e-mail: bgault@sfbr.org] for more information.

The Fourth European Zoo Nutrition Conference will be held January 21-23, 2005, at the Leipzig Zoo. Besides fundamental aspects of nutrition this conference will focus on the practical implications of zoo animal nutrition. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) and the EAZA Research Group support this conference. Presentations on the following themes are encouraged:

• Primate nutrition, especially papers on fiber utilization in primates and the role of Ultraviolet-B radiation in smaller primates.
• Feeding browsers. In the last few years, the knowledge of how to feed browsing animals has improved. We hope to present papers considering the optimal feeding of these species.
• Iron storage. According to the literature, hemosiderosis can be found in several animal species.
• Behavior enrichment. Foodstuffs are often used for behavioral enrichment. Should the amount used be limited?
• Practical feeding.

To submit a paper or for more information, see <www.EZNC.org>; or contact the European Zoo Nutrition Centre, c/o EAZA Executive Office (Walter Jansen, Joeke Nijboer, Andreas Bernhard), P.O. Box 20164, NL-1000 HD, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [+31 (0) 20 5200 750; Fax: +31 (0) 20 5200 752; e-mail: info@EZNC.org]. - from zoo-biology@yahoogroups.com

The American Society of Primatologists’ 28th Annual Meeting will be held at the Benson Hotel, Portland, Oregon, August 17-20, 2005, hosted by the Oregon National Primate Research Center. For information, contact Dr. Kris Coleman, Oregon NPRC, 505 NW 185th Ave, Beaverton, OR 97006, [e-mail: colemank@ohsu.edu].

* * *

Antibiotics for Colobus Monkeys? A Discussion

Tom deMaar <tdemaar@binderparkzoo.org>, Director of Animal Health and Research of the Binder Park Zoo, Battle Creek, Michigan, responded: “There are two very good questions here. First: The question of giving antibiotics to any animal that uses bacteria and other microorganisms as part of the digestive process. This really includes any member of the animal kingdom. Any antibiotic can cause a digestive disturbance. Hopefully the benefit of the antibiotic can and will outweigh the possibility of digestive disturbance.

“This issue is more pronounced in animals that ferment plant material: ruminants, equids, colobine monkeys, lagomorphs, etc. They are intimately dependent on the microflora for nutrition. Any antibiotic could disturb the process. There is no evidence that oral versus injectable antibiotic would be different. Both types will diffuse all around the body. Perhaps the oral route may cause a higher concentration in the digestive tract and thus a greater impact on the digestive microflora. However, that must be balanced with the stress and trauma of repeated injection by dart or manual restraint. In zoo and wild animal medicine there are always compromises.

“Second: How do get a colobine monkey to take oral antibiotics? I am struggling to treat a black and white colobus at the moment. I could dart her, but I believe that to be much too stressful. She refuses to take consistently orally either liquid Augmentin or tablet Clavamox in any form. (These are the same medication with different trade names from human and veterinary markets.) Sometimes she may take a single dose in a novel piece of fruit such as plum, pear, or grape but the next time she refuses. I have a large list of things she will not eat. We are beginning to test specially made troches with different flavors such as chocolate, coffee, sassafras, anise, etc. These are made by a local pharmacy and we are hoping to find a flavor that covers the medication and that the patient finds irresistible.

“Does any one have some advice?”

John Pullen <john.pullen@zsl.org>, of the London Zoo, wrote on April 22: “I have certainly given antibiotics to colobus and hanuman langurs (and I think Francois’s langurs as well, but I would have to check my records) with no ill effects. I do remember stopping a course of antibiotics due to very loose feces on one occasion. I also believe personally that it depends on the species; some are more ‘delicate’, for want of a better word, than others.

“Saying that, we have always kept in mind the possible effects of knocking out the gut flora, and here are some good points to think about.

• Obviously, do they need the antibiotics? Humans are very quick to jump in and use them as a preventive rather than a treatment.
• Give smaller amounts more often, particularly first and last thing to spread the dose throughout the day.
• Give food as soon as the antibiotics are consumed, to help fill the stomach/gut.
• What are the stress levels like, and is there any way to reduce them?
• Can the animals be trained (operant conditioning) in any way to make the process easier?

“As for getting them to accept the medicine, a lot depends on how hungry they are. One of my favorites is to squash a piece of banana with the flat side of a knife a few times, add the meds (well crushed if pills), mix in, then put in a bowl with either baby cereal or bread and make a small doughy ball.

“Then the other tricky bit is to get it to the right animal in the group!”

A veterinarian wrote: “Giving oral medication to langurs or colobines, which have compound stomachs which use fermentative processes to aid digestion (similar situation to oral medicines in animals with large cecums, e.g., horses etc.), does have the risk of killing off the desired bacteria, thus reducing digestive processes and causing diarrhea, which in some cases can be quite severe. Saying that, it is something I do occasionally depending on the duration of the problem, etc., and I have not had too many problems, although I have had to stop in the occasional case due to severe diarrhea. It certainly helps to administer a probiotic during the treatment period and for at least ten days following. I should also mention that bacteriostatic antibiotics (e.g. tetracyclines) are better tolerated orally by animals with compound stomachs than bacteriocidal antibiotics (e.g., penicillins).”

And from Australia: “When I was the primary keeper for birds and colobus, we gave our meds (tablet form) in figs. It seems to work well.”

Another zookeeper wrote: “We’ve had good success with pills by cutting off tiny pieces and inserting them into a grape. Hand out plain grape, plain grape, medicated grape, plain grape, etc. Feed fast so they don’t have time to think about what might be inside. Also, put meds in immediately prior to handing out so they don’t begin to melt and release flavor. This method works with banana chunks too.

“Other successful methods:

• Mix into jam (or peanut butter) and spread on bread.
• Crush and sprinkle on inside of banana peel then fold-up/roll peel.
• Crush and sprinkle into pocket in raw sweet or white potato.
• Liquid can be drizzled over leafy greens.
• Core large strawberry and insert crushed or tiny pieces of pill mixed w/banana, replace top of strawberry.
• Crush and place into holes in a chunk of ZuPreem Primate Diet.
• Sometimes a dot of honey over the crushed pills is helpful.”

She also quoted a previous response on colobus medication: “I used hibiscus flowers to hide meds in. We just poured crushed meds into the pistil/stamen area of the flower and then handed it to them. This worked really well.”

Chris Clark <cclark@durrell.org>, of the International Training Centre, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Les Augres Manor, wrote: “I know we used to give probiotic to our colobus sometimes, especially if they had been medicated but even if we had loose feces or loss of appetite. I think it was a preparation designed for cattle; Leocud was the brand name but I am sure there must be many available. I would suggest taking advice from the group and a vet on this but it may be worth considering.”

But a veterinarian said: “I have seen some cattle-aimed probiotics actually cause an increase in severity of diarrhea. I am personally a fan of Avipro (®Vetark); it is easily administered and appears to be effective (or at least has no deleterious effects).”

On April 28 Jan Vermeer wrote again: “We have tried probiotics before, with no adverse effects. Probiotics from Protexin (U.K.) seem to work OK. It helped us to treat Clostridium difficile in our woolly monkeys.”

Another issue was raised: “I think we have actually skipped over another important issue in giving oral antibiotics to colobus type monkeys. These animals actually have a bacterial fermenting vat as the first portion of their stomach, much like a ruminant. It is very questionable if something like clavamox or amoxicillin makes it past the initial bacterial fermentation. I don’t think anyone has investigated this, but it doesn’t work in ruminants. Most antibiotics need to be given by injection, bypassing the bacterial fermentation in the rumen, to be effective.

“Recent data has shown enrofloxacin to be effective in ruminants given orally. This has been demonstrated with blood levels. I have made the stretch and tried oral enro- or ciprofloxin in colobus, but still have the serious delivery challenges. My current case has serious dental and gingival disease. We have used local long-acting antibiotic-impregnated cement, but it’s not enough. We are planning on temporarily moving her out of her group to facilitate treatment. If that still doesn’t work, she may live in a squeeze cage for a bit. Part of it is deciding how critical the antibiotic treatment is. Colobus are just difficult. I think any macaque would be much easier to treat.”

A veterinarian replies: “That is certainly something I have wondered about, though I believe tetracyclines also survive fermentation in ruminants. Has penicillin been investigated? All I can say is that in a small number of cases where I have tried it, it ‘appears’ to have been effective, but then most animals get better despite treatment!”

Associate Editor Morris Povar asks: “Do any of our readers have experience with the topic? If so, can you add any solid data?”

Our Assistant Editor, Elva Mathiesen adds: “I’ve run across this problem with my pet iguana. Green iguanas (Iguana iguana) use fermentation to digest their food. Over the years one of my iguana’s eyes has become badly infected several times. When this happened in 2001, he received Baytril (enrofloxacin) by injection; I no longer remember whether he had digestive problems then. In 2002 the eye flared up again, and this time we gave him Baytril orally. After several doses he could no longer digest his food. He would simply excrete completely undigested food - more finely chopped than when it went in, but otherwise unchanged.

“The solution: I let him sniff and lick some of his old fecal material (lizards do this). Within a few days his gut was repopulated and he could digest his food again. Hmmm…could this be a solution for colobus?”

AND, as We were editing this, We got another note from Tom DeMaar: “Of course I have more information from my story. We switched antibiotics to enrofloxacin and also failed to get her to take it. We used both the chewable variety made for dogs and biscuits soaked in an oral liquid designed for poultry. Neither one was consumed by the patient. So I have resorted to treating the group of three animals equally, using biscuits soaked in the poultry solution. I do not agree with treating all three animals, but it seemed that the competition and/or camaraderie was necessary to encourage food consumption. It was the only way. We tried every idea listed here plus many, many, more. I can provide a three-page list of failed ideas, some of which were very creative.”

* * *

Primates de las Américas...La Página

Una lista de sociedades primatológicas de Iberoamérica con páginas de internet

• Asociación Primatológica Española: <www.uam.es/otros/ape/>
• Sociedade Brasileira de Primatologia: <planeta.terra.com.br/educacao/SBPr/>

• Estación Biológica Bocas del Toro, Panamá: <www.itec-edu.org>
• Estación Biológica de Corrientes (EBCo), Argentina: <ar.geocities.com/yacarehu/>
• Estación Biológica La Suerte, Costa Rica: <www.lasuerte.org/lasuerte.htm>
• Estación Biológica Los Tuxtlas, México: <www.primatesmx.com/inicio.htm> (Esta página presenta una muy buena sección sobre financiamiento de trabajos de campo, véala aquí: <www.primatesmx.com/apoyos.htm>; sin embargo, esta base de datos proviene de la página de internet de la ONG Simbiota que se sustenta y actualiza en: <wildlife.wisc.edu/simbiota/s-lista.htm>.)
• Estación Biológica Ometepe, Nicaragua: <www.lasuerte.org/ometepe.htm>
• Estación Biológica Quebrada Blanco, Perú: <www.dpz.gwdg.de/voe_page/index.htm>
• Estación del Proyecto Primates de Yasuní, Ecuador: <www.nyu.edu/projects/difiore/Yasuni/>
• Projeto Buigo, Santa Catarina, Brasil: <www.furb.rct-sc.br/cce/biologia/ bugio/bugio8.htm>
• Proyecto Tití, Colombia: <www.csew.com/proyectotiti/>
• Santuario y Refugio de Primates de Panamá: <www.primatesofpanama.org/projects/prsp/ mission.htm>

XI Congreso Brasileño de Primatología

Localidad: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.
Fechas: del 13 al 18 de febrero de 2005
Contacto: Julio César Bicca-Marques [e-mail: jcbicca@pucrs.br]
Comentario: Con seguridad será una oportunidad ideal para reunir a la comunidad primatológica brasileña y de toda Latinoamérica.

Conversaciones Entre Primatólogos

Si está interesado en un círculo de discusiones primatológicas tanto en portugués como en español puede contactar al siguiente correo electrónico: <primatologia@yahoogrupos.com.br>. Este panel está primordialmente auspiciado por estudiantes de primatología del Brasil, representando una excelente manera de interactuar con la nueva generación de primatólogos de ese país.

Novedad Bibliográfica

* Primates de Colombia. T. R. Defler. J. V. Rodríguez-Mahecha (Ed.). S. D. Nash, C. Landazábal-Mendoza, y M. Nieto-Díaz (Illus.). Serie de Guías Tropical de Campo/Tropical Field Guide Series. Santafé de Bogotá, Colombia: Conservación Internacional-Colombia, 2003. 543 pp. [Precio: 25.000 pesos colombianos ó 25 dólares estadounidenses más 5 adicionales para envío]
. . . Este excelente libro acaba de salir publicado y sin duda representa un hito en calidad de guías de campo sobre monos neotropicales. Su contenido es conciso y exacto, está magníficamente ilustrado y su presentación y diagramación son de primera calidad. Sin duda alguna es una obra primatológica fundamental no sólo de Colombia sino de Latinoamérica en general. Como dato interesante hay que señalar que el libro esta dedicado a la memoria del Dr. José Ignacio “El Mono” Hernández-Camacho, siendo esto un merecido reconocimiento para uno de los investigadores que con mayor pasión se dedicó al estudio de los platirrinos. En este sentido, estamos seguros que esta obra es y será gratamente recibida por primatólogos interesados en el Neotrópico. Para mayor información visite esta página: <www.unal.edu.co/imani/primates.htm>.
. . . Para adquirirlo diríjase a:
* Thomas R. Defler, Instituto Imani, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Leticia, Amazonas, Colombia [e-mail: thomasdefler@hotmail.com]; o
* Conservation International, 1919 M Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington D.C. 20036, U.S.A. (Introduzca su solicitud en esta página: <www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/about/contact.xml>.) - Breve reseña por B. Urbani

* * *

Awards Granted

Stony Brook University anthropologist and conservation biologist Patricia Wright has received a medal, the Officier de l’Ordre National de Madagascar, one of the highest honors granted to a civilian by the Madagascar government. Wright was largely responsible for the formation of Madagascar’s Ranomafana National Park in 1991, and for last summer’s inauguration of the Centre ValBio, a hand-built, international biology research facility on the park’s edge. - Newsday, Inc.

Australian Animal Welfare Awards

Every year in the state of New South Wales, Australia, two Compassion Awards are made to people for “dedicated compassionate work for animals”. To win these awards, a person must have a proven record of “making a difference for animals”. This year, Lyn Shanley of Primates for Primates was awarded one of these. During her twenty-two years in animal welfare, Lyn has built up a proven record of changing legislation and attitudes for the benefit of animals. Lyn came into the Animal Rights movement in June, 1982, after obtaining her first cat. She has worked with and for many organizations during that time, including the International Primate Protection League and Primates for Primates, and continues to work for the benefit of animals despite being in poor health herself. - Announced by Graeme Crook, President, Australasian Primate Society, on February 2

Animal Welfare Enhancement & Refinement Awards

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2004 Animal Welfare Enhancement Awards. The focus of these awards is to improve housing, handling and/or experimental situations for laboratory animals. Thanks to an anonymous donor, thirteen awardees will receive $6,000 each for studies aimed at enhancing laboratory animal welfare. The winning projects will explore such issues as the use of conditioning or training techniques to reduce stress levels, environmental enrichment, effects of group housing, and noninvasive indicators of pain and distress. The only primatologist among the winners, Amy M. Dupuy, of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, will study “The effects of light intensity on fecal cortisol and stereotypic behavior in adult male Macaca mulatta”.

For brief summaries of the proposed projects and a description of the selection criteria, please see <caat.jhsph.edu/programs/AWE/awards.htm>.

AWI also offers a Refinement Award, which supports studies aiming at the refinement of housing and handling conditions of monkeys (or dogs) kept in research institutions. This award has funding with a budget of $3,000. This year’s award will go to Steve Schapiro of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Bastrop, Texas, to assess Immunological Variables in Chimpanzee Blood Samples Obtained by Different Techniques. Steve’s well-designed proposal attempts to provide scientific underpinning for the assumption that the welfare of animals is enhanced when they are trained to cooperate rather than resist during common procedures.

Wurtz Recognized for Brain/Eye Research

Robert Wurtz has been selected as one of three recipients of the Dan David Prize for innovative research that crosses traditional boundaries and paradigms. Dr. Wurtz is a researcher on cognitive neuroscience and a scientist at the National Eye Institute (NEI), one of the federal government’s National Institutes of Health.

The Dan David Prize covers the past, present, and future time dimensions, representing realms of human achievement. Dr. Wurtz won his award for the future time dimension, the topic of which this year was “Brain Sciences”. The future time dimension focuses on breakthroughs that hold great promise for improvement of our world. Dr. Wurtz will share the $1 million award with Dr. William T. Newsome, an NEI grantee at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Dr. Amiram Grinvald of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. The work of all three was cited “for having revolutionized neurobiology by showing that higher mental processes can be analyzed in the intact behaving primate in terms of individual nerve cells and cellular populations.”

Dr. Wurtz introduced methods for the study of brain cells in the visual system of the monkey while the monkey was using its visual system to perform sophisticated visual and behavioral tasks. This approach has become the standard animal model for the study of the human visual system. It has paved the way for the growth of research on neuronal activity in the brain that underlies visual perception and higher brain function. Wurtz’s subsequent work has tried to unravel the components in the brain that transform visual input from the eye into visual perception and eye movements. He and his colleagues identified neuronal activity in the brain that contributes to a person’s ability to attend to some parts of the visual scene but not to others, and the brain mechanisms that underlie human perception of a stable visual world in spite of eye movements that occur several times per second.

Established by international entrepreneur and automatic photo booth developer Dan David, the Dan David Prize is funded from a $100 million Dan David Foundation endowment and is administered by Israel’s Tel Aviv University. Winners donate 10 percent of their prize money to outstanding doctoral students at universities around the world, which helps to foster the next generation of scholars. The Dan David Prize aims to promote the scientific, technological and humanistic achievements that advance and improve our world. This is the third year the prize has been awarded.

Dr. Wurtz and other prize recipients received their awards at Tel Aviv University on May 16, 2004. For more information about the Dan David Prize and its former winners see <www.dandavidprize.org>. - NIH News Release, March 5, 2004

The IPS Conservation Committee Small Grants

Claudio Padua, International Primatological Society Vice President for Conservation, has announced that the IPS Conservation Committee has awarded over $6,300 in Conservation Small Grants. Seven applications were received from primatologists studying in all of the continents in which primates naturally occur, and four awards were made. The following individuals received grants for their excellent projects:

• Dilip Chetry (India) for “Nonhuman primate survey in Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary, Meghalaya, India;
• Entang Iskandar (Indonesia) for “Population survey of the Javan gibbon (Hylobates moloch) at the Gunung Halimun National Park, West Java”;
• Pierre Kakule (Congo) for “Environmental education for the conservation of primates at the Tayna Centre for Conservation Biology”; and
• Karenina Morales (El Salvador) for “Survey and census of spider monkeys in El Salvador”.

“These grants were made possible by generous contributions to the IPS Conservation Fund from many IPS members. We are planning on awarding another set of grants within the next year, so keep your eyes open for the announcement and keep those contributions coming. Grant applications were evaluated by the members of the IPS Conservation Committee, and I would like to thank Tom Struhsaker, Alcides Pissinatti, Anne Savage, Anthony Rylands, Bill Konstant, Russ Mittermeier, David Chivers, John Oates, Ken Glander, and Pat Wright for their work.”

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Positions Available

The University of Wisconsin Medical School - Lab-oratory Animal Resources has an opening for a Clinical Veterinarian and is seeking a highly motivated, service-oriented candidate for the position. The Medical School is an AAALAC-accredited unit with 80,000 square feet of facilities. Species include all traditional laboratory models including nonhuman primates. There are active programs in ophthalmology, surgery, cardiology, neurophysiology, and other clinical and basic sciences.

Qualified applicants will have a DVM or VMD from an accredited college of veterinary medicine, a license to practice veterinary medicine in any U.S. state, at least two years’ experience in laboratory animal medicine, and be ACLAM board-eligible or a diplomate. Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Information about University employment benefits and a Web posting of the position vacancy listing (#46861) can be viewed at <www.ohr.wisc.edu>.

To apply, please submit a letter of interest, CV, and the names of at least three references to: Alison Jarvis, DVM, Associate Director, Laboratory Animal Resources, K4/114 Clinical Science Center, 600 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53792-1654 [e-mail: asjarvis@wisc.edu]. UW-Madison is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. We promote excellence through diversity and encourage all qualified individuals to apply.

Campus Veterinarian, NHLBI

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), NIH, is seeking applicants for the position of Campus Veterinarian for NHLBI activities conducted on the NIH campus located in Bethesda, Maryland. This position offers an exciting opportunity for making substantial contributions to the NHLBI’s Division of Intramural Research program, which currently utilizes a wide variety of laboratory animals including nonhuman primates (macaques, tamarins, and squirrel monkeys), farm animals (swine and sheep), dogs, rabbits, and rodents in its research program. As a key member of the Laboratory of Animal Medicine and Surgery (LAMS) team, the successful applicant will have responsibilities for planning, directing, coordinating, and evaluating all aspects of animal care and use activities on the NIH campus.

Specific responsibilities include:

• supervision of animal care personnel;
• providing veterinary clinical care and surgical support services to NHLBI investigators;
• providing guidance in the development and implementation of animal use protocols to researchers;
• maintaining the animal health surveillance program;
• participating in IACUC activities;
• participating in on-campus surgical support program;
• representing NHLBI in central animal holding facility committees;
• assisting in the education and training of animal care personnel;
• advising the Chief, LAMS, and other intramural Laboratory and Branch Chiefs and research investigators on animal care, use, and welfare issues;
• assuring compliance with all federal and state animal care and use laws and regulations; and
• maintaining AAALAC accreditation.

Salary will be commensurate with experience. Officers in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service may also apply. Minimum qualifications are a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or equivalent degree from an AVMA-accredited school of veterinary medicine (board eligibility or certification by ACLAM is desirable), licensure in at least one state, experience in the AAALAC-accreditation process, and five years of progressively responsible experience in an animal research program. Experience with mouse breeding colonies and/or research-oriented surgical experience is also desirable.

The submission deadline is July 1, 2004, or until the position is filled. To apply for this position, submit CV and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of four professional references to James “Buster” Hawkins, NHLBI, NIH, 14 Service Rd South, Bldg 14E, Room 105A, Bethesda, MD 20892-5570 [e-mail: hawkinsJ@nih.gov]. For additional information, contact Dr. Hawkins [301-451-6743]. NIH is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Chimp Haven - Louisiana

Chimp Haven, Inc., has several positions open. “We are seeking a Behaviorist to provide behavioral care and management for a colony of chimpanzees retired from medical research. Responsibilities include reviewing animal records; acquiring information regarding behavior and background of each chimpanzee; maintaining behavioral measures on chimpanzees; assisting with arrival plans, care, and group formation; oversight of ordering enrichment supplies; supervising the enrichment technician; developing written training materials; planning climbing structures, enrichment devices, and other structures for enrichment; conducting behavioral studies; presenting results in peer-reviewed journals and at meetings; and implementing an animal training program. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited university and three years’ experience with nonhuman primates, zoo animals, or exotic species are required. An advanced degree, chimpanzee experience, and experience with positive reinforcement training and safety and biohazard procedures are preferred.

“We are seeking a Colony Manager to provide care and management for a colony of chimpanzees retired from medical research. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: hiring, training, and supervising animal care staff; developing standard operating procedures; overseeing work schedules, daily duties, and responsibilities of animal caregivers; preparing for the arrival, care, and socialization of chimpanzees; and working with veterinary and behavioral staff to plan and implement medical and behavioral monitoring programs, including positive reinforcement training and enrichment procedures. Responsibilities will also include maintaining employee and animal records, managing the ordering of supplies and equipment, and overseeing maintenance of animal care equipment and the animal facility. A minimum of five years of experience is required, preferably with chimpanzees. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited university, and experience with positive reinforcement training and safety and biohazard procedures are preferred.

“We are seeking an Enrichment Technician to provide enrichment for a colony of chimpanzees retired from medical research. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: collecting, reviewing and maintaining behavioral records; monitoring progress of social group formation; ordering supplies; constructing and providing enrichment devices; providing scheduled enrichment to chimpanzees; training chimpanzees for cooperation and enrichment; participating in colony management decisions; and assisting the Behaviorist with data collection, report and publication generation, and behavioral observation studies. A minimum of two years’ experience with nonhuman primates or other exotic species, experience implementing environmental enrichment programs, and computer experience are required. A bachelor’s degree from an accredited university with two years’ experience implementing enrichment programs for chimpanzees, collecting behavioral data, and training with positive reinforcement is preferred.

“We are seeking a Veterinary Technician to provide clinical care for a colony of chimpanzees retired from medical research. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: ordering and stocking veterinary supplies; reviewing and maintaining medical records; monitoring colony health; maintaining equipment; sedation and recovery of chimpanzees; assisting the veterinarian with physical exams, treatments, and surgery; coordinating laboratory tests; training chimpanzees to cooperate with medical procedures; and participating in colony management decisions. A high school diploma or GED is required, but a bachelor’s degree, vet tech degree, or an associate’s degree is preferred. Five years’ experience with nonhuman primates, medical monitoring, sedation, treatments, suturing, surgical assistance, and computer database entry is required. Experience with safety and biohazard procedures is preferred.

“For all positions, please send cover letter, resume, and salary requirement to Chimp Haven, Inc., Attn: Human Resources, 710 Spring St, 2nd Floor, Shreveport, LA 71101 [318-425-0002; fax: 318-425-4250; e-mail: careers@chimphaven.org]. Chimp Haven employees receive competitive salaries and benefits, and work in a team atmosphere. Chimp Haven is an equal opportunity employer.”

Primate Behavioral Ecology - New Jersey

The Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University, announces a temporary lecturer position in primate behavioral ecology for the 2004-05 academic year (September 2004 to mid-May 2005). The lecturer will teach two courses each semester (undergraduate and graduate level), as well as mentor students. Salary is $27,000. The PhD must be completed by August, 2004. Applicants should submit a CV and statement of teaching interests, and arrange submission of three letters of recommendation before June 30, 2004. These should be e-mailed to Dr. Ryne Palombit <palombit@africaonline.co.ke>, and cc’d to Dr. Dorothy Hodgson <hodgson@rci.rutgers.edu>. Please note: because Dr. Palombit is currently in the field with a slow Internet connection, e-mails should not exceed 100 kilobytes (including attachments). Inquiries about the position can be e-mailed to Dr. Palombit. Rutgers University is an Equal Opportunity employer.

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Grants Available: Pathogenesis of SARS Lung Disease

SARS, manifested by fever, pulmonary infiltrates, and often respiratory failure and death, infected more than 8000 people worldwide during the winter and spring of 2003. Overall, the death rate for SARS is estimated at 9.6%, but at 50% or more for patients over 60 years of age. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) quickly identified a new human coronavirus, SARS-CoV, which appears to have “jumped” species from an animal reservoir to infect humans and cause SARS. At present, the outbreak has subsided, due to rigorous public health measures and probably to the seasonal nature of the coronavirus life cycle. Questions about viral persistence in asymptomatic animal or human hosts or how SARS might emerge next remain unanswered for now. The mechanism is not known. It has been postulated that this might occur as a result of persistence and shedding of virus by asymptomatic human hosts or as a consequence of human contact with animals that are harboring the virus (possibly civet cats in China). A few new cases have been reported from China in December 2003 and January 2004, but fortunately the disease does not appear to have spread. At least some cases appear to have had contact with civet cats.

At this time, very little is known about the pathogenesis of SARS in the lung. Macaques have been infected in preliminary experiments and are reported to have lung lesions similar to those seen in humans. Attempts to establish rodent models of lung disease have not succeeded yet, but infection can be established in rodents, and models of other animal coronavirus diseases make it likely that a model may be established soon, either by direct infection or by modifying the SARS-CoV genome. Recently, ferrets and domestic cats have been infected with SARS-CoV. These animals can spread infection. The ferrets become ill and die, not apparently from pneumonia, but the model is reproducible.

Pulmonary investigators are encouraged to form collaborations to take full advantage of already established animal models of coronavirus infection and newly developed animal resources. Of equal importance, pulmonary investigators are encouraged to use existing genetically altered mouse resources (e.g., the NHLBI Programs of Genomic Applications) and if necessary to develop novel mice, engineered to incorporate or ablate components of immune function, to study the pathogenesis of SARS lung injury. Collaborations with virologists to develop and study chimeric viruses are encouraged. Chimeras might make it possible to use many existing mouse models and reagents that could quickly provide data on mechanisms of lung damage in SARS.

Examples of the type of research topics and approaches that would be solicited under this program announcement include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Determine which lung structural cells (e.g., epithelial, endothelial, etc.) and immune and inflammatory cells support human SARS-CoV infection.
• Study viral binding, receptors, co-receptors, replication, persistence, effects on host cell gene expression, and apoptosis.
• Investigate immunological aspects of SARS-CoV infection, e.g., elaboration of cytokines, antigen presentation, and effects of co-stimulation with other pathogens.
• Address the role of immune responses, age-related issues, surfactant proteins, and the effects of co-morbidities (e.g., underlying emphysema, diabetes) using animal models of SARS.
• Elucidate pathogenesis by using animal models to study the effects of vaccines, antiviral drugs, and immune modulating agents that might moderate the manifestations of SARS in the lung.

Direct questions about scientific/research issues to Hannah H. Peavy, Div. of Lung Diseases, NHLBI, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Suite 10018, Bethesda, MD 20892-7952 [301-435-0222; fax: 301-480-3557; e-mail: peavyh@nhlbi.nih.gov]. Applications submitted in response to this program announcement will be accepted at the standard application deadlines, which are available at <grants.nih.gov/grants/dates.htm>.

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Resources Wanted and Available

Cartoonist Pauline Comanor, who designed the original “Chunky Monkey”, has a Website that includes lessons on how to draw monkeys and apes, as well as insects, foliage, and flowers: <www.chunkymonkey.com/index.htm>.

NCRR Releases New Fact Sheets

The National Center for Research Resources, NIH, has issued two new fact sheets that provide overviews of the General Clinical Research Centers and Biomedical Technology (BT) Resource Centers throughout the country. The BT Resource Centers fact sheet describes the more than 40 specialized BT Resource Centers that develop and provide the scientific community with access to state-of-the-art instruments, methodologies, and computational tools that are not broadly available. Staffed by scientists who have expertise in technology and biology, the Centers also create new tools for biomedical research and identify applications for these tools. The fact sheet summarizes the research, service, training, and dissemination components of the Centers and also provides information about gaining access to or establishing new centers.

These and other fact sheets are available on the Publications, Plans, and Reports page of NCRR’s Website: <www.ncrr.nih.gov/publications.asp>; they can also be obtained free of charge from the Office of Science Policy and Public Liaison, NCRR/NIH, 6701 Democracy Blvd, Rm 978, Bethesda, MD 20892-4874 [301-435-0888; fax: 301-480-3558; e-mail: info@ncrr.nih.gov].

Community Conservation Project Needs Help

Lake Elementeita is a small flamingo-filled lake in Kenya’s Rift Valley province with about 5,000 greater and lesser flamingos and many other aquatic avifaunal species living there. It is the only known breeding site for great white pelicans in Kenya, but it is very close to, and overshadowed by, more spectacular Lakes Naivasha and Nakuru (a world heritage site, with about one million flamingoes).

A group of 28 local people have formed “The Lake Elementeita Eco-friendly Development Centre” to encourage birding and nature walks around the area as well as educate the local people, especially school children, on the need to conserve biodiversity in and around the lake, and tackle the problems threatening the lake.

An education center has been built at the site but needs resources to make it fully functional. Once everything is set up, the center is expected to be self-sustaining as it will charge a fee for services rendered to general visitors, but offer free education to visiting school parties.

This is a wish list for donations needed to help make this project succeed:
(a) Conservation education materials including books, posters, magazines, pamphlets, bulletins, etc.
(b) New or used audio-visual equipment, e.g., slide and/or overhead projectors, screens, TV, video.
(c) Camera, binoculars.
(d) Water chemistry testing kits.
(e) One medium-sized diesel generator and one portable generator for outreach programs.
(f) Field guide books for birds, mammals and trees of east & central Africa.
(g) Office equipment such as desks, chairs, cabinets.
(h) Tents, thermarests, sleeping bags, etc.
(i) Donations in cash to purchase any of the above locally.

For further information on the project please contact Peter Micheni, Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust-Trained Conservation Education Officer, P.O. Box 15125, Nairobi 00509, Kenya [e-mail: wildeekenya@yahoo.com]; or Phillip Gitahi, Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, P.O. Box 20184, Nairobi, Kenya [e-mail: ecomenteita@yahoo.com]. - zoo-biology@yahoogroups.com, April 9, 2004

Primate Field Guide - Indonesia

Keely Severn [e-mail: keelysevern@yahoo.co.uk] posted the following notice to the Alloprimate e-mail list on April 11, 2004: “As part of the Primate Conservation Master’s degree at Oxford Brookes University, I am planning to produce a full color, fold-out, laminated field guide showing behavioral, ecological, and conservation information for the species and subspecies of nocturnal primates of Indonesia. It will primarily aim to help the taxonomic identification of Tarsius and Nycticebus subspecies using visual identification and vocalization information. I hope to distribute this guide throughout Indonesia as well as send some copies to specific sites around the world. If you would like a copy or know of a sanctuary, research station, conservation organization, educational program, university, or ecotourism group that you feel would be interested, please contact me or pass on my e-mail address.

AALAS Learning Library Primate Biosafety Course

The American Association for Laboratory Animal Science announces a new course on the AALAS Learning Library (ALL) on a biosafety topic: Health Risks and Safety Procedures for Working with Nonhuman Primates. This course covers the procedures for an occupational health program, information on zoonoses including B virus, personal protective equipment, sharps, facility signage, standard microbiological and sanitation practices, basic information about animal restraint procedures, and handling exposures to pathogens. This course is the first on the AALAS Learning Library to offer streaming video clips on specific procedures.

This course was supported by the AALAS Foundation and the Elizabeth R. Griffin Foundation and is a companion to the videotape and DVD Primates, Personnel, and Protection, also released this month. Remember that a videotape and/or DVD (one copy each, please) are distributed at no charge or shipping cost to U.S. institutions.

Users having an account with ALL can access the courses in the Animal Care and Use Library at <www.aalaslearninglibrary.org>.

Molecular Diagnostic Testing

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays are changing the way researchers and animal care facilities monitor infectious diseases of nonhuman primates. The sensitivity, specificity, and speed with which pathogens are identified using molecular assays enable research and health monitoring possibilities unavailable using other techniques alone.

In molecular diagnostic testing, nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) is isolated from a specimen (often blood, but other sample types are possible depending on the target pathogen), then amplified using highly specific primers complimentary to target sequences. References and controls are run simultaneously; amplified sequences are then separated and visualized using state-of-the-art protocols and instrumentation.

Zoologix serves primate facilities with PCR-based diagnostic testing for infectious diseases. “Zoologix is owned and managed by board-certified scientists and seasoned laboratory managers with extensive experience in molecular biology, biochemistry, zoology, assay design and lab operations. Our objective is to provide to the primatology community fast, sensitive, and specific infectious disease testing. Over 50 different molecular assays are available on the Zoologix menu. For more information, contact Steven Lloyd, Zoologix, Inc., 9811 Owensmouth Ave, Suite 4, Chatsworth CA 91311 [818-717-8880; fax 818-717-8881; e-mail: slloyd@zoologix.com], or see <www.zoologix.com>.”

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Research and Educational Opportunities

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver (Martin Reite, MD, Program Director), is offering postdoctoral research training for MDs (child and general psychiatrists, developmental pediatricians) and PhDs in neuroscience, developmental psychobiology and psychopathology. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), training emphasizes the neuroscience research tools (molecular, behavioral and psychiatric genetics, functional/structural neuroimaging, cognitive and behavioral analyses) needed to understand complex behavioral and psychiatric disorders. Applications will be accepted now for summer/fall 2004 positions (please see <www.dprgpostdoc.org>). Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. EO/AAE.

Origins of Individual Differences in Impulsivity

As part of the above-described postdoctoral training program, Dr. Mark Laudenslager is specifically seeking a PhD-level individual to be involved in research training focused on a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism-funded project of gene-environment interactions in setting the trajectory of adolescent impulsivity in bonnet macaques. The candidate must have a background in primatology with a focus on behavioral development and neuroscience. This allied research project focuses on the role of the serotonin transporter gene polymorphism and the quality of early maternal care in expression of the behavioral phenotype of impulsivity. The training program as funded by NIMH emphasizes the neuroscience research tools (molecular, behavioral and psychiatric genetics, functional/structural neuroimaging, cognitive and behavioral analyses) needed to understand complex behavioral and psychiatric disorders. Applications will be accepted now for summer/fall 2004 positions. For program information and application procedures, please see <www.dprgpostdoc.org>. The University of Colorado is committed to diversity and equality in education and employment.

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Volunteer Opportunities

Global Vision International is looking for volunteers to work at a baboon sanctuary bordering Kruger National Park in South Africa. This sanctuary relies entirely on charitable donations and is desperately in need of your help. Volunteers will be involved in a number of different tasks, including overseeing the baby baboon crèche, playing with the youngsters; cleaning enclosures and water troughs; and maintaining records of the animals, their treatment, and progress. Volunteers are also sometimes involved in release of animals into the wild. The daily work is hard - be prepared to get hot, dirty and dusty - but the results are immensely rewarding.

Full training will be given in all aspects of animal care for this project. During your stay you will learn a huge amount about the baboons, as well as about nature in general. Comfortable accommodation in a wonderful location is provided on site for volunteers, with central bathroom facilities, hot water, and electricity. Food will be purchased in the town and prepared by each volunteer on a rotating basis. Volunteers must provide flights and insurance. We require a minimum four-week stay.

For more information please contact Erica Louise, Global Vision International, St Albans, U.K. [00 44 870 608 8898; fax: 00 44 158 283 4002; e-mail: info@gvi.co.uk]; or see <www.gvi.co.uk>.

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund - Rwanda

Global Vision International has linked up with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund to offer volunteers the chance to work in Rwanda assisting in the long-term conservation of the endangered mountain gorilla. It is estimated that there are about 355 mountain gorillas left in the world. The future of the gorillas is most dependent on the protection and survival of the forests in which they live, since they depend on this land for food, safety and normal activities, but the forests are often in danger from growing human populations, and from civil war in the region. Volunteers will be assisting through research, conservation action, education, and partnerships. This is a valuable opportunity to gain experience in this field.

Each position requires different qualifications. However, all volunteers must be fluent in English and French (both written and spoken), have a full driving license, and be willing to commit themselves for at least three months. It is preferable for volunteers to have some international travel experience, in particular within Africa.

Living conditions will vary depending on where you are based but will either be in a house or a guesthouse. All accommodations will be basic but comfortable and will have electricity and running water. Please be prepared for intermittent shortages of electricity and water. Contact Erica Louise at the address above, or see the URL above.

Primate Keepers Needed - Spain

The Mona Foundation is the only primate sanctuary in Spain. Its aim is to provide a better life for primates who have been exploited by people. Here the primates are rehabilitated and socialized into family groups. At the moment, the sanctuary is home to nine chimpanzees and three macaques. The main enclosure is more than 5000 m2, in which the aim is to provide an environment as close as possible to what they would enjoy in the wild.

The Mona Foundation is looking for hard-working, dedicated people who are interested in helping in its mission. Volunteer duties will depend upon the center’s requirements, which vary with the time of year. Volunteer responsibilities include: cleaning, feeding, enrichment, and general maintenance such as gardening, painting, and building work. Volunteers also help with administrative duties and in welcoming visitors, for which good presentation skills are needed.

Voluntary primate keepers must be able to commit to a period of six months working at the sanctuary and be present five days and five nights each week. All voluntary posts are subject to a one-month trial period. To apply for a voluntary position at the Mona Foundation write to <mona1@fundacionmona.org>. For more information, see <www.fundacionmona.org>. - From the ZooNews Digest - please mention it in your application

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Workshop Announcement: European Marmoset Research Group 8th Workshop

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News Briefs

Police shot and killed a gorilla that escaped from its enclosure at the Dallas Zoo on Thursday and injured three people. One adult and two children, ages 10 and 2, suffered minor injuries from the gorilla and were taken to area hospitals, Deputy Police Chief Daniel Garcia said. He said the three were bitten and scratched. The zoo was evacuated after the animal escaped and police were notified. When the gorilla charged two officers, getting within 15 feet of them, they opened fire, Garcia said. “We were forced to put this animal down,” he said.

Garcia said police officers’ objective was protecting citizens until authorities could figure out what to do with the gorilla. Diana Gonzalez, a zoo patron, said she saw the animal banging on the door of its enclosure, and then it broke. The gorilla then scampered out of the gorilla pit. Dallas zoo director Rich Buickerood said the primate was an inquisitive 13-year-old western lowland gorilla. He said the animal was likely “extremely excited and extremely fearful while it was out.”

He said zoo officials are trying to figure out how the escape happened. Last year, a 300-pound gorilla escaped twice in two months from Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo. In the second escape, he strolled around the zoo and the surrounding streets for about two hours and attacked a 2-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman. Both suffered minor injuries. The animal was sedated with tranquilizer darts. The zoo reopened its gorilla exhibit last month without the escapee, named Little Joe, who now spends his time in a holding area away from the public. - Associated Press, March 19

Will State Evict Morgan Island Monkeys?

Almost two years ago, the state of South Carolina decided to evict thousands of rhesus monkeys from Morgan Island near Beaufort. But with a tight state budget, that could change. Since 1979, the island has been the only U.S. free-range breeding colony and the biggest producer of the monkeys, which are valued for scientific research. It is home to 3,000 monkeys who breed about 750 baby monkeys a year. Each year, about 150 yearlings are trapped and shipped to research labs.

The island was acquired by the state for $20 million in 2002. The money came from federal grants used for conservation efforts in the area drained by Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto rivers. Later that year, the state Department of Natural Resources Board voted not to renew a lease that allowed the monkey breeding. But since that vote, the state budget has tightened and the state is looking for ways to generate more revenue.

Most of the monkeys are owned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which leases the property for $787,000 a year. The new Department of Natural Resources Board, which formed six months ago, got its first report on the island last week. The board has the prerogative to review the earlier decision, said Mike McShane, the board chairman. “From a cursory standpoint, [the island] seems to have worked well under private ownership for more than 20 years,” he said.

Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the federal government has also been pushing for more research into vaccines against biological weapons.

Greg Westergaard, whose Alpha Genesis Inc. manages the breeding operation, said there have only been preliminary discussions about moving the monkeys. “I know the animals are critical to research,” he said. “No other facility could do that in terms of sheer numbers.” Westergaard has a contract to provide monkeys to the FDA through 2006 and said the agency is negotiating to extend its lease on the island. DNR Director John Frampton said the state plans to discuss the matter with the FDA. “There is a need for monkeys in medical research,” he said.

Westergaard said moving the monkeys would stress them and kill “a significant percentage” with disease. It could take a year to catch the animals and move them. Westergaard said the company could move them temporarily to enclosures in Yemassee or Hampton County, but he hasn’t made any plans yet. “As December 2004 creeps up, you do wonder what the plan is going to be,” he said. - Associated Press, February 18

UWA to Control Animal-to-Human Infections

The Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) has formed a partnership with Conservation Through Public Health to control the spread of diseases around the protected areas, top wildlife officials have said.

Speaking yesterday, Dr. Zikusoka Kalema, who heads the conservation group, said groups of the endangered mountain gorillas in the recent past contracted scabies, a deadly skin disease, from the human population. Kalema said the apes were man’s closest relatives and that diseases also sometimes spread from the animals to the local communities. She also said because people and animals can make each other sick, it is important to merge conservation with public health.

“We have teamed up with UWA to provide health care to people living near the national parks,” Kalema said. She said their emphasis was on teamwork and that this was the reason why they had entered into partnership with UWA to protect wildlife and improve the livelihood of communities.

Lillian Nsubuga, the spokesperson of UWA, said change of attitude in the communities was important in sustaining nature. - New Vision, 27 March, 2004

Mysterious Brazil Zoo Animal Deaths Rise to 73

Seventy-three Saõ Paulo Zoo animals have died from poisoning this year, and Brazilian police said on Tuesday they were extending their investigation because they still lacked sufficient evidence to charge suspects. But the leading detective on the case, Clovis Ferreira de Araujo, said the culprits could be caught soon. Speaking to journalists, Araujo said police were looking into groups that might have benefited financially from the animals’ deaths.

“The action was intended to weaken the internal controls of the park and with this carry out illicit activities that could generate ill-gotten gains,” Araujo said without elaborating. He said the toll now stood at 73, up from the previously announced 67. The dead animals included kangaroos, an elephant, dromedaries, porcupines, and primates. Ten people are being interrogated, of whom six may soon be indicted, but “there are still no clues to order the arrest of these suspects,” said Araujo. He added that he would likely request the telephone and bank records of the suspects. The suspects continue working at the zoo. “There are still risks for the animals. I cannot rule out the possibility of new deaths,” Araujo said. - © Reuters, April 6, 2004

Joe Goes Outdoors - Gorilla Haven

Joe, the gorilla who came to Gorilla Haven from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas, last March (see <www.brown.edu/Research/Primate/lpn42-3.html#news>), was permitted to go out in the grass this April for the first time in many years. For pictures and the story of his adventure, see <www.gorilla-haven.org/>.

John Maynard Smith, 1920-2004

John Maynard Smith, Emeritus Professor of Biology at the School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, passed away on April 19, 2004. In 1965, he founded and became Dean of its School of Biological Sciences and served as Professor there until 1985. He built it up into one of the world’s great centers for the study of evolution. See <www.evolutionary-ecology.com/JohnMaynardSmith.html>.

ILAR Addresses Transportation of Lab Animals

The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) recently established a Committee on Guidelines for the Humane Transportation of Laboratory Animals. The Committee is charged with addressing current problems with the transportation of lab animals, including: animal welfare concerns, availability of quality transportation services, overlaps or gaps in regulatory oversight, permitting issues, tissue/specimen transportation, regulatory burden reduction, and potential biosecurity concerns. All species of lab animals will be considered. The Committee’s work is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the National Centers for Infectious Diseases.

Pet Vervet Repatriated to Zambia from Singapore

In May, 2003, acting on information provided by the International Primate Protection League (IPPL) and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), the Singapore Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority, assisted by ACRES, confiscated a vervet monkey illegally kept as a pet. This monkey had been illegally imported from South Africa.

ACRES has been working to find a new home for this monkey where he can once again associate with other vervets, and today he makes his journey back to the African continent, to the Munda Wanga Sanctuary in Zambia. This is the first repatriation of a confiscated pet primate from Singapore.

“Blue” will be living in a new, large, open-topped, electrified enclosure, with other vervets. ACRES extends its appreciation to the Singapore Zoo, for taking care of “Blue” and helping with the logistics necessary for his return flight to Zambia. Stichting AAP (a Dutch foundation) is the principal sponsor for this repatriation. Additional sponsors include IPPL, Gorilla Haven, and ACRES. - from a May 4, 2004, press release by ACRES

Changes at AAALAC International

The Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International (AAALAC International) is pleased to announce the restructuring and augmentation of its Executive Office. Effective this summer, AAALAC International’s Senior Director, Dr. Kathryn A. Bayne, will relocate to Hawaii and assume the duties of Director of Pacific Rim Activities and Associate Director for Accreditation. A search committee is being formed and will be soliciting applications in the next few weeks to fill her current position of Senior Director in AAALAC International’s Rockville, Maryland, U.S.A. office.

Along with the recent formation of a European Section of the Council on Accreditation, and the longstanding involvement of Dr. Egil Berge as Assistant Director for European Activities, this restructuring is another step in AAALAC International’s continuing efforts to broaden its scope and better serve the international community. If you have questions or comments regarding the restructuring, please e-mail <accredit@aaalac.org>, or see <www.aaalac.org>. - an announcement by John G. Miller, Executive Director

Eye Operation Performed on Macaque in Kerala Zoo

A team of doctors in Kerala, India, led by Dr. K. Mahadevan, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, attached to the Government Eye Hospital, conducted a cataract surgery on the left eye of a 15-year-old male lion-tailed macaque at the city zoo. They fitted an intra-ocular lens after removing the affected lens. The special lens was supplied by a Baroda-based private company. The macaque, now recovering in the zoo hospital, would be under observation for a week or so, the authorities said.

Mr. Jayakumar, a veterinary doctor in the zoo, claimed that this was the first time in the country that a macaque in captivity had undergone a cataract surgery. Last year, a similar operation was carried on a 17-year-old lioness by the same team of doctors, the authorities said. - From the Kerala News Channel, May 18, 2004

The Fight to Save the Eastern Lowland Gorilla

The past decade has been devastating for eastern lowland gorillas. Their numbers are down 70 percent. One major reason for the decline is mining. Coltan, a mineral used in manufacturing cell phones, is mined in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the gorillas live. Gold is also mined in the area. Logging, clear-cutting of forests for farms, and civil strife have added to the gorillas’ population decline. And, as resources become more strained, gorillas are being hunted and eaten.

The Congo is home to almost all of the eastern lowland gorillas in the world. In 1994, there were about 17,000 of the apes. Today that number is down to 5,000.

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is working with local tribal chiefs to set up nature reserves for the apes. It’s one way to get the people of the Congo to become more involved with the region’s conservation, especially in light of the fact that they struggling just to get food on the table. Clare Richardson, director of the Gorilla Fund, has seen it firsthand.

“It’s very difficult to have people in Africa concerned with conservation and the loss of biodiversity and the loss of these massive areas of rain forest when they’re desperately trying to make it from one day to the next,” she said. The Gorilla Fund is spending close to $3 million to help set up these local reserves. Part of the money will be used to pay the villagers who work there in an effort to spark their economy and better their living conditions. Richardson says it will be impossible to save the eastern lowland gorillas without a commitment from the people who live there. - From an article by Sharon Collins on CNN Headline News, May 17, 2004

Gorilla Dies at San Francisco Zoo

A 29-year-old gorilla died at the San Francisco Zoo less than two weeks after undergoing surgery to remove his diseased right lung. Kubi, a 422-pound silverback western lowland gorilla, underwent the unprecedented procedure May 7. Tuesday morning, keepers said, he was not eating solid food and appeared lethargic. He died about 3:30 p.m.

“We were really encouraged by Kubi’s recovery and progress,” said Dr. Freeland Dunker, the senior veterinarian at the zoo. “Every minute of the last 10 days was a step in the right direction for him - he was eating, he was moving about, he was interacting with the others in his group - but all along we’ve been very cautious and knew the first 10 days to two weeks would be critical for him.”

Preliminary results of the necropsy performed by Zoo veterinary staff Tuesday night indicated bleeding from an opening of a pulmonary vessel that had abscessed.

Life span for a western lowland gorilla in the wild is 35 years; in captivity, up to 50 years. “Kubi was a tremendous spirit and he leaves a legacy as a gentle and sensitive individual, he’ll be missed not only by his family but by his Zoo family,” Dunker said. “Lessons learned from his life here at the Zoo will be valuable to others for many years to come.” - From the San Francisco Chronicle, May18, 2004

Sierra Leone Sanctuary Receives U.S. Money

The United States has donated $77,000 to Sierra Leone’s Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary for habitat restoration aimed at saving seven endangered primate species in the tiny West African state. The donation, part of which came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will expand the sanctuary and pay for electric fencing to encircle it, allowing 30 formerly caged chimpanzees to roam free across the 1,500-hectare enclosure. The decade of rebel war that raged in Sierra Leone until 2001 virtually wiped out the primate populations, sending seven species, including the incredibly rare western chimpanzee, to the brink of extinction. - Agence France-Presse, May 21

Second Gorilla Born at Denver Zoo

Denver Zoo celebrated its first gorilla baby birth in 30 years a month ago. A second baby was born early May 29. “With less than a dozen gorilla births a year in the United States, it’s truly remarkable to have two births in such a short period of time,” said Clayton Freiheit, Denver Zoo president. The sex and weight of the baby is not yet known. The mother, 26-year-old JoRayK, has been keeping the infant close to her body and zookeepers will wait to examine the baby. The other baby, a female gorilla born May 2, was named Tulivu. Zoo workers are raising Tulivu because her mother stopped feeding the baby. “All of these animals are part of a species survival plan. They are part of a breeding program,” Bowie said. “The fact that they got so active a few weeks apart is purely coincidental. A great coincidence. But purely coincidental.” - Associated Press, June 1, 2004

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Recent Books and Articles

Books

* Kinship and Behavior in Primates. B. Chapais & C. M. Berman (Eds.). New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 520 pp. [Price: $89.50]
. . . Contents: Introduction: The kinship black box, by B. Chapais & C. M. Berman.
. . . Part I. Who Are Kin? Methodological Advances in Determining Kin Relationships: Determination of genealogical relationships from genetic data: A review of methods and applications, by P. A. Morin & T. L. Goldberg; Noninvasive genotyping and field studies of free-ranging nonhuman primates, by D. S. Woodruff.
. . . Part II. Kin Compositions: Ecological Determinants, Population Genetics, and Demography: Is there no place like home? Ecological bases of female dispersal and philo-patry and their consequences for the formation of kin groups, by L. A. Isbell; Dispersal and the population genetics of primate species, by G. A. Hoelzer, J. C. Morales, & D. J. Melnick; The effects of demographic variation on kinship structure and behavior in cercopithecines, by D. A. Hill.
. . . Part III. Diversity of Effects of Kinship on Behavior: Matrilineal kinship and primate behavior, by E. Kapsalis; Patrilineal kinship and primate behavior, by K. B. Strier; Kinship and behavior among nongregarious nocturnal prosimians: What do we really know? by L. T. Nash; Kinship structure and reproductive skew in cooperatively breeding primates, by J. M. Dietz; Kinship structure and its impact on behavior in multilevel societies, by F. Colmenares; The impact of kinship on mating and reproduction, by A. Paul & J. Kuester.
. . . Part IV. Kin Bias: Proximate and Functional Processes: “Recognizing” kin: Mechanisms, media, minds, modules, and muddles, by D. Rendall; Developmental aspects of kin bias in behavior, by C. M. Berman; The recognition of other individuals’ kinship relationships, by D. L. Cheney & R. M. Seyfarth; Constraints on kin selection in primate groups, by B. Chapais & P. Belisle.
. . . Part V. The Evolutionary Origins of Human Kinship: Human kinship: A continuation of politics by other means? by L. Rodseth & R. Wrangham; Residence groups among hunter-gatherers: A view of the claims and evidence for patrilocal bands, by H. Perich Alvarez; Mating, parenting, and the evolution of human pair bonds, by K. Hawkes.
. . . Conclusion: Variation in nepotistic regimes and kin recognition: A major area for future research, by B. Chapais & C. M. Berman.

* Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior (3 vols.). M. Bekoff (Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Greenwood Press, December 2004. 1200 pp. [Price: $349.95; Prepublication Price: $314.96]

* The Evolution of Thought: Evolutionary Origins of Great Ape Intelligence. A. E. Russon & D. R. Begun (Eds.). West Nyack, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2004. [Price: $110.00]
. . . Contents: Evolutionary reconstructions of great ape intelligence, by A. E. Russon; Enhanced cognitive capacity as a contingent fact of hominid phylogeny, by D. R. Begun.
. . . Part I. Cognition in Living Great Apes: Introduction, by A. E. Russon; The manual skills and cognition that lie behind hominid tool use, by R. W. Byrne; The cognitive complexity of social organization and socialization in wild baboons and chimpanzees: Guided participation, socializing interactions, and event representation, by S. Taylor Parker; Gestural communication in the great apes, by J. Blake; Great ape cognitive systems, by A. E. Russon.
. . . Part II. Modern Great Ape Adaptation: Introduction, by A. E. Russon; What’s in a brain? The question of a distinctive brain anatomy in great apes, by C. E. MacLeod; Life histories and the evolution of large brain size in great apes, by C. Ross; Evolution of complex feeding techniques in primates: Is this the origin of great ape intelligence? By G. Yamakoshi; The special demands of great ape locomotion and posture, by K. D. Hunt; Great ape social systems, by C. P. Van Schaik, S. Preuschoft, & D. P. Watts; Diet and foraging of the great apes: Ecological constraints on their social organizations and implications for their divergence, by J. Yamagiwa.
. . . Part III. Fossil Great Ape Adaptations: Introduction, by D. R. Begun; Paleoenvironments and the evolution of adaptability in great apes, by R. Potts; Cranial evidence of the evolution of intelligence in fossil apes, by D. R. Begun & L. Kordos; Life history and cognitive evolution in the apes, by J. Kelley; Fossil hominoid diets, extractive foraging, and the origins of great ape intelligence, by M. Singleton; Paleontology, terrestriality, and the intelligence of great apes, by D. L. Gebo; Body size and intelligence in hominoid evolution, by C. V. Ward, M. Flinn, & D. R. Begun.
. . . Part IV. Integration: Evolutionary origins of great ape intelligence: An integrated view, by A. E. Russon & D. R. Begun.

* Apes, Monkeys, Children, and the Growth of Mind. J. C. Gomez. The Developing Child Series. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. [Price: $39.95].

Children’s Books

* The Importance of Being a Mouse. A. R. Gernhardt (R. Fisher, Illustrator). Washington, DC: Foundation for Biomedical Research, 2004. <www.fbresearch.org/education>.

Catalogs

* An annotated catalog of the African primate genera Colobus and Procolobus (Cercopithecidae: Colobinae) in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History. R. O’Leary (Div. of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024 [e-mail: oleary@amnh.org]). American Museum Novitates, 2003, No. 3399.
. . . The Department of Mammalogy of the American Museum of Natural History houses over 300 specimens of African colobus monkeys. The collection consists of Procolobus badius, P. verus, Colobus angolensis, C. guereza, C. polykomos, C. satanas, and C. vellerosus. Taxonomic notes, pelage descriptions, and range are noted for each species and subspecies. For each specimen, the following data are given: catalog number, date collected or recorded, sex, age, nature of specimen, locality, name of collector, and measurements.

Journal Contents

* Laboratory Animals, 2004, 38[2].
. . . Contents include: Report of the FELASA Working Group on evaluation of quality systems for animal units, by B. Howard, H. van Herck, J. Guillen, B. Bacon, R. Joffe, & M. Ritskes-Hoitinga; and A study of behavioural responses of non-human primates to air transport and re-housing, by P. E. Honess, P. J. Johnson, & S. E. Wolfensohn.

Magazines and Newsletters

* Boletín de la Asociación Primatológica Española, 2004, 11[1] <www.uam.es/ape>. [Depto de Psicobiología, Buzón 150, Fac. de Psicología, Univ. Complutense de Madrid, Campus de Somosaguas, 28223 Madrid, Spain]
. . . Contents include “The Macaque Genus: New Perspectives”, by Jacqueline Donohoe, a report on the Calpe Conference entitled “The Barbary Macaque - Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives” held in Gibraltar in November, 2003; and “Conoce una Población [Meet a Population of Primates]: Gibraltar and its Macaque Population”, a detailed report by J. Cortés and Eric Shaw. (Both articles are in English.)

* Connection, Winter/Spring, 2004. [AAALAC International, 11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 1211, Rockville, MD 20852-3035]

* IPPL News, May, 2004, 31[1]. [International Primate Protection League, P.O. Box 766, Summerville, SC 29484]
. . . Contents include articles on the Taiping Four gorillas, a hamadryas baboon going from Bahrain to Wales, the death of a Singapore Zoo photo chimp, the colobus monkeys of Kenya, and problems facing the “Rock Apes” of Gibraltar.

* The Laboratory Primate Voice, 2004, 1[1]. (Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group., P.O. Box 230298, Boston, MA 02123-0298).
. . . Contents include “Five things you can do to help end biomedical research on monkeys and chimpanzees.”

* TPP Newsletter, 2003, 2[2, Suppl.]. The Theoretical Primatology Project; <www.robertwilliams.org/tpp>.
. . . Features “A Recipe for a Good Graduate Student?” by R. Dunbar.

Proceedings

* Cooperation in Primates and Humans: Mechanisms & Evolution. 4. Göttinger Freilandtage, December 9-12, 2003. Primate Report, 2003, Special Issue 66-1.

Reports

* Annual Report, 2002-2003. (Primate Foundation of Arizona, P.O. Box 20027, Mesa, AZ 85277-0027).

Special Journal Issues

* Primate cognitive ecology. American Journal of Primatology, 2004, 62[3].
. . . Contents: New perspectives in primate cognitive ecology, by P. A. Garber; Brain growth, life history, and cognition in primate and human evolution, by S. R. Leigh; Wild capuchins (Cebus capucinus) fail to use tools in an experimental field study, by P. A. Garber & E. Brown; Use of spatial, visual, and olfactory in