Hot Topics in Primate Welfare

For this quarter’s Hot Topics in Animal Welfare feature, we introduce the body of work on social network analysis conducted on rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) groups at the California National Primate Research Center in the lab of Dr. Brenda McCowan, Core Scientist in the Neuroscience & Behavior Unit and Professor at UC Davis School of […]

This quarter, we are featuring the research of Dr. Lauren Robinson, who is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wolf Science Center at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Dr. Robinson completed her dissertation work at the University of Edinburgh supervised by Dr. Alexander Weiss. There, she examined the ways that observer ratings of primate […]

For this feature, we interviewed Dr. Jessica Hartel from the Department of Biology at the University of Georgia and the Director of Conservation for the Kibale Chimpanzee Project (KCP). Located in the Kanyawara region of Kibale National Park in southwestern Uganda, the KCP was established in 1987 by Dr. Richard Wrangham as a long-term field site where […]

For this feature, we highlight the research of Marissa Janavaris, a member of the Behavioral Services Unit at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. Marissa and her collaborators recently conducted a study to assess the use of bedding as an enrichment strategy in two indoor-housed groups of Mauritian cynomolgus macaques. For this study, Marissa examined […]

For our Fall, 2019 Hot Topics, we are featuring the research of Lynea Witczak, a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Davis who studies titi monkeys at the California National Primate Research Center. Titi monkeys are socially monogamous primates that live in the Amazon basin. Forming pair bonds is […]

For this feature, we interviewed Dr. Francis Cabana, Wildlife Nutritionist and Assistant Director, Zoology, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, about a condition which affects callitrichid primates (e.g., marmosets, tamarins) called Marmoset Wasting Syndrome, or MWS. Dr. Cabana and colleagues recently published a study identifying potential risk factors that could be mitigated to help reduce the incidence of MWS, as well as […]

Stressful environments increase risk of chronic diarrhea, but personality influences outcome. For this quarter’s Hot Topics in Animal Welfare feature, we highlight the research of Dr. Daniel Gottlieb, Manager of Resources and Logistics at the Oregon Health Sciences University’s Oregon National Primate Research Center in Beaverton, OR. Dr. Gottlieb investigates colony management techniques to improve […]

For this Winter, 2018 feature on Hot Topics in Welfare, we explore the research of Sarah Neal Webb, a Ph.D. candidate from the University of Copenhagen. Ms. Neal Webb was the recipient of the 2018 American Society of Primatologists’ Primate Welfare Award for her research examining the behavioral effects of group size and composition in […]

For this Fall, 2018 Hot Topics feature, we interview Dr. Anna Nekaris about how conservation and welfare issues intersect in her work with slow lorises (Nycticebus spp.). Dr. Nekaris is a Professor of Anthropology and Primate Conservation at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom. She is the founder and Director of the Little Fireface Project […]

Experimentally evaluating the function of self-directed behavior in mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx). For the Spring 2018 Hot Topics in Welfare feature, we explore a novel test of self-directed behavior as an indicator of animal welfare. This research was conducted by Austin Leeds and Kristen E. Lukas of Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and was recently published in Animal Welfare. Self-directed […]