Parental failure in captive cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus Oedipus).

Several New World monkey species experience high rates of infant mortality in captivity, and parental failure in the form of infant neglect and abuse is often regarded as one of the leading causes of this problem. We explored a large archival database to assess environmental, familial, and biological variables identified as significant for parental success in previous studies of captive tamarins, through several generations and across several dozen pedigrees. Using a stepwise multiple regression analysis we developed a model including the fewest variables able to identify statistically significant predictors of infant outcome. We found that seven independent variables could predict infant outcome in the colony. The most important appeared to be the presence of helpers with whom parents could share infant carrying. Mother's experience and litter size were two other variables that contributed to a significant extent to explaining parental failure. Moreover, the model showed that there is a measurable contribution to infant outcome due to the health status of both parents. Finally, we found a distinct role for mothers and fathers, and that parental failure follows different patterns for abuse and rejection.

Family history as a risk factor for ulcerative colitis-associated colon cancer in cotton-top tamarin.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Little is currently known about the relationship between family history of colon cancer and ulcerative colitis-associated colon cancer. A nested case-control study was performed to evaluate the association between family history of colon cancer and spontaneously occurring colon cancer in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). METHODS: Subjects were chosen from a colony of cotton-top tamarins held in captivity between 1968 and 1995. The cancer status of parents and grandparents was compared for 48 animals with colon cancer and 58 controls, all with histological confirmation of ulcerative colitis. Multivariate odds ratios were calculated using logistic regression. RESULTS: A parental history of colon cancer was positively associated with risk of colon cancer (multivariate odds ratio, 2.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-6.3). Risk also increased as an animal's total number of family members with colon cancer increased (multivariate odds ratio, 1.7 for each increase in the total number of family members with cancer; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-2.8). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that cotton-top tamarins with ulcerative colitis are at significant increased risk for developing colon cancer if they have a family history of colon cancer. Further investigation of this relationship in both tamarins and humans is warranted.

Behavioral management of specific pathogen-free rhesus macaques: group formation, reproduction, and parental competence.

Breeding colonies of specific pathogen-free (SPF) rhesus macaques were established to eradicate the transmission of Herpesvirus simiae and several retroviruses in this species. Strategies to attain this goal included the combination of large numbers of monkeys into groups, the establishment of small unimale groups, and a program using animals that were temporarily socially restricted. All methods required the establishment of new social groups from unfamiliar animals. In using these methods, we encountered important behavioral questions related to the group formation process, as well as reproductive and parental competence. Age and prior social experience were important determinants of social and parental success. New multimale-multifemale SPF group formations were successful initially and involved the least aggression during the first breeding season when young females and older males were used. Formation of unimale groups was successful, even when males and females were of similar ages. Breeding competence did not seem to be affected by any of the SPF colony management procedures, but animals with restricted early social experience exhibited impaired parental competence when compared with animals with more social experience. Males were more sensitive to the effects of early social restriction than females. A variety of behavioral obstacles will be encountered when attempting to establish an SPF breeding colony by forming groups by use of these methods. Skilled behavioral management is necessary to surmount these obstacles and to achieve satisfactory social integration, reproduction, and parenting.

Dopamine terminal loss and onset of motor symptoms in MPTP-treated monkeys: a positron emission tomography study with 11C-CFT.

We studied the time course of dopamine (DA) terminal loss in three macaca fascicularis injected with MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) intravenously every 10-14 days for up to 389 days. Striatal DA terminal loss was monitored in vivo by positron emission tomography using 11C-CFT (WIN 35,428), a cocaine derivative that labels the DA transporter. The 11C-CFT uptake rate constant in the striatum of MPTP-treated monkeys decreased exponentially over time, with the putamen significantly more affected than the caudate. Spontaneous locomotor activity decreased in parallel with the decline of the 11C-CFT uptake rate; however, overt parkinsonian signs appeared only after the 11C-CFT uptake rate had declined to about 30% of the pretreatment values. We conclude that a long-term intermittent mode of administration of MPTP can lead to a pattern of terminal loss that closely resembles idiopathic Parkinson disease.

Size, space, and adaptation in some subfossil lemurs from Madagascar.

We examine several explanations for the geographic pattern of body size variation exhibited by the subfossil lemur Archaeolemur. Part and partial correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis are applied in a stepwise, hierarchical fashion to help to determine variable interdependencies. Variance in site means for body size is best explained by the richness of the plant community and by several correlated climatic variables (bioclimatic zone and mean annual rainfall). Body size differentiation in Archaeolemur roughly mirrors patterns observed among many other Malagasy lemur species and subspecies groups. This consistency alone suggests that common ecological factors have strongly affected size differentiation in lemurs, most probably (as suggested by our correlation analyses) by uniformly influencing the productivity of their niches. Smaller individuals tend to inhabit arid regions, and larger individuals tend to inhabit wetter regions. The interplay between selective differentiation and allopatric speciation appears to have yielded the concordant pattern of size variation observed in Malagasy lemurs.

The effect of heterologous gonadotropins on the fecundity of rhesus monkeys.

Ovarian stimulation with heterologous gonadotropins over a period of a single month did not depress the fecundity or fecundability of 50 rhesus monkeys as compared to 60 untreated monkeys in a timed breeding colony. The birth rates, seasonality of births, interbirth intervals, and waiting time to the next pregnancy were not significantly different before treatment, after treatment, or among the untreated. The stillbirth rate was not increased after treatment.