Preparing New World monkeys for laboratory research.

New World monkeys represent an important but often poorly understood research resource. The relatively small size and low zoonotic risk of these animals make them appealing as research subjects in a number of areas. However, historic portrayal of many of these species as difficult to manage and handle is one of the factors that has limited their use. Basic guidelines are provided on management and handling approaches for the New World monkeys most commonly used in research: marmosets, squirrel monkeys, owl monkeys, and titi monkeys. Topics include transport and acclimation to a new facility, location changes within a facility, diet changes, removal from and return to social groups, capture and restraint, handling for anesthesia, postprocedural monitoring, and staff training.

Pithecia pithecia's behavioral response to decreasing fruit abundance.

In this article we describe the behavioral responses of a group of white-faced sakis' (Pithecia pithecia) to fruit and water scarcity. Six sakis were observed on Round Island in Guri Lake, Venezuela, between March and May 1996. These months are considered the dry season and the beginning of the wet season. Sakis specialize in eating seeds. During the present study only one tree species, Licania discolor (Chrysobalanaceae), fruited in substantial numbers. Licania seeds accounted for 88% of the time the sakis spent eating fruit in March, 87% in April, and 80% in May. We estimate that the sakis' intake of Licania seeds dropped from 2,573 seeds in the 15-day observation period in March to 956 seeds in the 16-day observation period in May. The sakis not only spent less time eating Licania, they ate the seeds at a much slower rate. The drop in the sakis' feeding rate was probably due to increased local search and inspection times. In response to the scarcity of fruit, the sakis ate more young leaves, insects, and flowers. Feeding bouts became more frequent but shorter. Mean distances between feeding bouts fell significantly and the sakis revisited trees less often.