Conceptual thresholds for same and different in old-(Macaca mulatta) and new-world (Cebus apella) monkeys

Learning of the relational same/different (S/D) concept has been demonstrated to be largely dependent upon stimulus sets containing more than two items for pigeons and old-world monkeys. Stimulus arrays containing several images for use in same/different discrimination procures (e.g. 16 identical images vs. 16 nonidentical images) have been shown to facilitate and even be necessary for learning of relational concepts ( [Flemming et al., 2007], [Wasserman et al., 2001] and [Young et al., 1997]). In the present study, we investigate the threshold at which a new world primate, the capuchin (Cebus apella) may be able to make such a discrimination. Utilizing a method of increasing entropy, rather than conventional procedures of decreasing entropy, we demonstrate unique evidence that capuchin monkeys are readily capable of making 2-item relational S/D conditional discriminations. In another experiment, we examine the supposed level of difficulty in making S/D discriminations by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Whereas pigeons (Columba livia) and baboons (Papio papio) have shown marked difficulty simultaneously discriminating same from different arrays at all when composed of fewer than 8 items each, rhesus monkeys seem to understand that pairs of stimuli connote sameness and difference just the same (Flemming et al., 2007). With sustained accurate performance of 2-item S/D discriminations, both experienced and task-naïve rhesus monkeys appear quite certain in their conceptual knowledge of same and different. We conclude that learning of the same/different relational concept may be less dependent upon high levels of entropy contrast than originally hypothesized for nonhuman primates.     

Superior abstract-concept learning by Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana)

The ability to learn abstract relational concepts is fundamental to higher level cognition. In contrast to item-specific concepts (e.g. pictures containing trees versus pictures containing cars), abstract relational concepts are not bound to particular stimulus features, but instead involve the relationship between stimuli and therefore may be extrapolated to novel stimuli. Previous research investigating the same/different abstract concept has suggested that primates might be specially adapted to extract relations among items and would require fewer exemplars of a rule to learn an abstract concept than non-primate species. We assessed abstract-concept learning in an avian species, Clark''s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana), using a small number of exemplars (eight pairs of the same rule, and 56 pairs of the different rule) identical to that previously used to compare rhesus monkeys, capuchin monkeys and pigeons. Nutcrackers as a group (N = 9) showed more novel stimulus transfer than any previous species tested with this small number of exemplars. Two nutcrackers showed full concept learning and four more showed transfer considerably above chance performance, indicating partial concept learning. These results show that the Clark''s nutcracker, a corvid species well known for its amazing feats of spatial memory, learns the same/different abstract concept better than any non-human species (including non-human primates) yet tested on this same task.     

Influence of Mismatch of Env Sequences on Vaccine Protection by Live Attenuated Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

Vaccine/challenge experiments that utilize live attenuated strains of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in monkeys may be useful for elucidating what is needed from a vaccine in order to achieve protective immunity. Derivatives of SIVmac239 and SIVmac239Δnef were constructed in which env sequences were replaced with those of the heterologous strain E543; these were then used in vaccine/challenge experiments. When challenge occurred at 22 weeks, 10 of 12 monkeys exhibited apparent sterilizing immunity despite a mismatch of Env sequences, compared to 12 of 12 monkeys with apparent sterilizing immunity when challenge virus was matched in its Env sequence. However, when challenge occurred at 6 weeks, 6 of 6 SIV239Δnef-immunized monkeys became superinfected by challenge virus mismatched in its Env sequence (SIV239/EnvE543). These results contrast markedly not only with the results of the week 22 challenge but also with the sterilizing immunity observed in 5 of 5 SIV239Δnef-immunized rhesus monkeys challenged at 5 weeks with SIV239, i.e., with no mismatch of Env sequences. We conclude from these studies that a mismatch of Env sequences in the challenge virus can have a dramatic effect on the extent of apparent sterilizing immunity when challenge occurs relatively early, 5 to 6 weeks after the nef-deleted SIV administration. However, by 22 weeks, mismatch of Env sequences has little or no influence on the degree of protection against challenge virus. Our findings suggest that anti-Env immune responses are a key component of the protective immunity elicited by live attenuated, nef-deleted SIV.     

The Macaque Social Responsiveness Scale (mSRS): A Rapid Screening Tool for Assessing Variability in the Social Responsiveness of Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta)

Understanding the biological mechanisms underlying human neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), has been hindered by the lack of a robust, translational animal model. Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) display many of the same social behaviors that are affected in ASD, making them an excellent animal species in which to model social impairments. However, the social impairments associated with ASD may reflect extreme ends of a continuous distribution of traits. Thus, to validate the rhesus monkey as an animal model for studying social impairments that has strong translational relevance for ASD, researchers need an easily-implemented measurement tool that can quantify variation in social behavior dimensionally. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) is a 65-item survey that identifies both typical and atypical social behaviors in humans that covary with ASD symptom severity. A chimpanzee SRS has already been validated and the current study adapted this tool for use in the rhesus monkey (mSRS). Fifteen raters completed the mSRS for 105 rhesus monkeys living at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. The mSRS scores showed a unimodal distribution with a positive skew that identified 6 statistical outliers. Inter-rater reliability was very strong, but only 17 of the 36 questions showed positive intra-item reliability. The results of an exploratory factor analysis identified 3 factors that explained over 60% of the variance, with 12 items significantly loading onto the primary factor. These items reflected behaviors associated with social avoidance, social anxiety or inflexibility and social confidence. These initial findings are encouraging and suggest that variability in the social responsiveness of rhesus monkeys can be quantified using the mSRS: a tool that has strong translational relevance for human disorders. With further modification, the mSRS may provide an promising new direction for research on the biological mechanisms underlying social impairments.     

Get It While It’s Hot: A Peak-First Bias in Self-Generated Choice Order in Rhesus Macaques

Animals typically must make a number of successive choices to achieve a goal: e.g., eating multiple food items before becoming satiated. However, it is unclear whether choosing the best first or saving the best for last represents the best choice strategy to maximize overall reward. Specifically, since outcomes can be evaluated prospectively (with future rewards discounted and more immediate rewards preferred) or retrospectively (with prior rewards discounted and more recent rewards preferred), the conditions under which each are used remains unclear. On the one hand, humans and non-human animals clearly discount future reward, preferring immediate rewards to delayed ones, suggesting prospective evaluation; on the other hand, it has also been shown that a sequence that ends well, i.e., with the best event or item last, is often preferred, suggesting retrospective evaluation. Here we hypothesized that when individuals are allowed to build the sequence themselves they are more likely to evaluate each item individually and therefore build a sequence using prospective evaluation. We examined the relationship between self-generated choice order and preference in rhesus monkeys in two experiments in which the distinctiveness of options were relatively high and low, respectively. We observed a positive linear relationship between choice order and preference among highly distinct options, indicating that the rhesus monkeys chose their preferred food first: i.e., a peak-first order preference. Overall, choice order depended on the degree of relative preference among alternatives and a peak-first bias, providing evidence for prospective evaluation when choice order is self-generated.     

Rhesus macaques use probabilities to predict future events

Humans can use an intuitive sense of statistics to make predictions about uncertain future events, a cognitive skill that underpins logical and mathematical reasoning. Recent research shows that some of these abilities for statistical inferences can emerge in preverbal infants and non-human primates such as apes and capuchins. An important question is therefore whether animals share the full complement of intuitive reasoning abilities demonstrated by humans, as well as what evolutionary contexts promote the emergence of such skills. Here, we examined whether free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) can use probability information to infer the most likely outcome of a random lottery, in the first test of whether primates can make such inferences in the absence of direct prior experience. We developed a novel expectancy-violation looking time task, adapted from prior studies of infants, in order to assess the monkeys' expectations. In Study 1, we confirmed that monkeys (n = 20) looked similarly at different sampled items if they had no prior knowledge about the population they were drawn from. In Study 2, monkeys (n = 80) saw a dynamic ‘lottery’ machine containing a mix of two types of fruit outcomes, and then saw either the more common fruit (expected trial) or the relatively rare fruit (unexpected trial) fall from the machine. We found that monkeys looked longer when they witnessed the unexpected outcome. In Study 3, we confirmed that this effect depended on the causal relationship between the sample and the population, not visual mismatch: monkeys (n = 80) looked equally at both outcomes if the experimenter pulled the sampled item from her pocket. These results reveal that rhesus monkeys spontaneously use information about probability to reason about likely outcomes, and show how comparative studies of nonhumans can disentangle the evolutionary history of logical reasoning capacities.     

Mamu-B genes and their allelic repertoires in different populations of Chinese-origin rhesus macaques

Since rhesus monkeys of Chinese origin have gained greater utilization in recent years, it is urgent to investigate the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) immunogenetics of Chinese rhesus macaques. In this study, we identified 81 Mamu-B sequences using complementary DNA cloning and sequencing on a cohort of 58 rhesus monkeys derived from three local populations of China. Twenty of these Mamu-B alleles are novel and four of them represent new lineages. Although more alleles are shared among different populations than Mamu-A locus, the Mamu-B allelic repertoires found in these three populations of Chinese macaques are largely independent, which underscores the MHC polymorphism among different populations of Chinese rhesus macaques. Our results are an important addition to the limited MHC immunogenetic information available for rhesus macaques of Chinese origin.     

Determinants of increased replicative capacity of serially passaged simian immunodeficiency virus with nef deleted in rhesus monkeys

Most rhesus macaques infected with simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 with nef deleted (either Delta nef or Delta nef Delta vpr Delta US [Delta 3]) control viral replication and do not progress to AIDS. Some monkeys, however, develop moderate viral load set points and progress to AIDS. When simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) recovered from two such animals (one Delta nef and the other Delta 3) were serially passaged in rhesus monkeys, the SIVs derived from both lineages were found to consistently induce moderate viral loads and disease progression. Analysis of viral sequences in the serially passaged derivatives revealed interesting changes in three regions: (i) an unusually high number of predicted amino acid changes (12 to 14) in the cytoplasmic domain of gp41, most of which were in regions that are usually conserved; these changes were observed in both lineages; (ii) an extreme shortening of nef sequences in the region of overlap with U3; these changes were observed in both lineages; and (iii) duplication of the NF-kappa B binding site in one lineage only. Neither the polymorphic gp41 changes alone nor the U3 deletion alone appeared to be responsible for increased replicative capacity because recombinant SIVmac239 Delta nef, engineered to contain either of these changes, induced moderate viral loads in only one of six monkeys. However, five of six monkeys infected with recombinant SIVmac239 Delta nef containing both TM and U3 changes did develop persisting moderate viral loads. These genetic changes did not increase lymphoid cell-activating properties in the monkey interleukin-2-dependent T-cell line 221, but the gp41 changes did increase the fusogenic activity of the SIV envelope two- to threefold. These results delineate sequence changes in SIV that can compensate for the loss of the nef gene to partially restore replicative and pathogenic potential in rhesus monkeys.     

Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta) Detect Rhythmic Groups in Music,but Not the Beat

It was recently shown that rhythmic entrainment, long considered a human-specific mechanism, can be demonstrated in a selected group of bird species, and, somewhat surprisingly, not in more closely related species such as nonhuman primates. This observation supports the vocal learning hypothesis that suggests rhythmic entrainment to be a by-product of the vocal learning mechanisms that are shared by several bird and mammal species, including humans, but that are only weakly developed, or missing entirely, in nonhuman primates. To test this hypothesis we measured auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) in two rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), probing a well-documented component in humans, the mismatch negativity (MMN) to study rhythmic expectation. We demonstrate for the first time in rhesus monkeys that, in response to infrequent deviants in pitch that were presented in a continuous sound stream using an oddball paradigm, a comparable ERP component can be detected with negative deflections in early latencies (Experiment 1). Subsequently we tested whether rhesus monkeys can detect gaps (omissions at random positions in the sound stream; Experiment 2) and, using more complex stimuli, also the beat (omissions at the first position of a musical unit, i.e. the ‘downbeat’; Experiment 3). In contrast to what has been shown in human adults and newborns (using identical stimuli and experimental paradigm), the results suggest that rhesus monkeys are not able to detect the beat in music. These findings are in support of the hypothesis that beat induction (the cognitive mechanism that supports the perception of a regular pulse from a varying rhythm) is species-specific and absent in nonhuman primates. In addition, the findings support the auditory timing dissociation hypothesis, with rhesus monkeys being sensitive to rhythmic grouping (detecting the start of a rhythmic group), but not to the induced beat (detecting a regularity from a varying rhythm).     

Common marmosets are sensitive to simple dependencies at variable distances in an artificial grammar

Recognizing that two elements within a sequence of variable length depend on each other is a key ability in understanding the structure of language and music. Perception of such interdependencies has previously been documented in chimpanzees in the visual domain and in human infants and common squirrel monkeys with auditory playback experiments, but it remains unclear whether it typifies primates in general. Here, we investigated the ability of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) to recognize and respond to such dependencies. We tested subjects in a familiarization-discrimination playback experiment using stimuli composed of pure tones that either conformed or did not conform to a grammatical rule. After familiarization to sequences with dependencies, marmosets spontaneously discriminated between sequences containing and lacking dependencies (‘consistent’ and ‘inconsistent’, respectively), independent of stimulus length. Marmosets looked more often to the sound source when hearing sequences consistent with the familiarization stimuli, as previously found in human infants. Crucially, looks were coded automatically by computer software, avoiding human bias. Our results support the hypothesis that the ability to perceive dependencies at variable distances was already present in the common ancestor of all anthropoid primates (Simiiformes).     

Induction of AIDS in Rhesus Monkeys by a Recombinant Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Expressing nef of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1

A nef gene is present in all primate lentiviruses, including human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and simian immunodeficiency virus of macaque monkeys (SIVmac). However, the nef genes of HIV-1 and SIVmac exhibit minimal sequence identity, and not all properties are shared by the two. Nef sequences of SIVmac239 were replaced by four independent nef alleles of HIV-1 in a context that was optimal for expression. The sources of the HIV-1 nef sequences included NL 4-3, a variant NL 4-3 gene derived from a recombinant-infected rhesus monkey, a patient nef allele, and a nef consensus sequence. Of 16 rhesus monkeys infected with these SHIVnef chimeras, 9 maintained high viral loads for prolonged periods, as observed with the parental SIVmac239, and 6 have died with AIDS 52 to 110 weeks postinfection. Persistent high loads were observed at similar frequencies with the four different SIV recombinants that expressed these independent HIV-1 nef alleles. Infection with other recombinant SHIVnef constructions resulted in sequence changes in infected monkeys that either created an open nef reading frame or optimized the HIV-1 nef translational context. The HIV-1 nef gene was uniformly retained in all SHIVnef-infected monkeys. These results demonstrate that HIV-1 nef can substitute for SIVmac nef in vivo to produce a pathogenic infection. However, the model suffers from an inability to consistently obtain persisting high viral loads in 100% of the infected animals, as is observed with the parental SIVmac239.     

Molecular Evidence for Distinct Genotypes of Monkey B Virus (Herpesvirus Simiae) Which Are Related to the Macaque Host Species

Although monkey B virus (herpesvirus simiae; BV) is common in all macaque species, fatal human infections appear to be associated with exposure to rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), suggesting that BV isolates from rhesus monkeys may be more lethal to nonmacaques than are BV strains indigenous to other macaque species. To determine if significant differences that would support this supposition exist among BV isolates, we compared multiple BV strains isolated from rhesus, cynomolgus, pigtail, and Japanese macaques. Antigenic analyses indicated that while the isolates were very closely related to one another, there are some antigenic determinants that are specific to BV isolates from different macaque species. Restriction enzyme digest patterns of viral DNA revealed marked similarities between rhesus and Japanese macaque isolates, while pigtail and cynomolgus macaque isolates had distinctive cleavage patterns. To further compare genetic diversity among BV isolates, DNA sequences from two regions of the viral genome containing genes that are conserved (UL27 and US6) and variable (US4 and US5) among primate alphaherpesviruses, as well as from two noncoding intergenic regions, were determined. From these sequence data and a phylogenetic analysis of them it was evident that while all isolates were closely related strains of BV, there were three distinct genotypes. The three BV genotypes were directly related to the macaque species of origin and were composed of (i) isolates from rhesus and Japanese macaques, (ii) cynomolgus monkey isolates, and (iii) isolates from pigtail macaques. This study demonstrates the existence of different BV genotypes which are related to the macaque host species and thus provides a molecular basis for the possible existence of BV isolates which vary in their levels of pathogenicity for nonmacaque species.     

Discrete or graded variation within rhesus monkey screams? Psychophysical experiments on classification

Gouzoules et al. (1984, Animal Behaviour,32, 182-193) presented evidence that semifree-ranging rhesus monkeys, Macaca mulatta, produce acoustically distinctive classes of scream vocalizations that carry different functional messages. To determine the perceptual validity of these vocal classes, we conducted psychophysical experiments on captive rhesus monkeys. We trained two monkeys to maintain contact with a metal response cylinder during presentation of nontarget stimuli, and to release the cylinder to report detection of target stimuli. For one subject, tonal screams served as nontarget stimuli and arched screams served as targets. These conditions were reversed for a second subject. Once natural exemplars were correctly discriminated, both subjects correctly generalized to synthetic targets. Variability in responses to nontarget stimuli, however, suggested that scream categories were not well defined following training. This result suggests that rhesus monkeys do not perceive categorical distinctions between arched and tonal screams, at least under the testing conditions implemented. Rather, our results provide evidence for a graded category. To explore which acoustic features are most important for classifying novel exemplars as tonal or arched screams, we ran several follow-up experiments with novel scream exemplars. Generalization trials suggested that variation in rate of frequency change, maximum frequency of the fundamental and harmonic structure may be important to the discrimination of screams.     

A review of sexual initiating behavior by male and female cynomolgus monkeys and some species comparisons

The sexual initiating behavior of male and female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) observed during standard laboratory tests is reviewed and compared with that of rhesus monkeys (M. mulatta) observed under identical conditions. Species differences in sexual behavior are related here to differences in habitat, sexual dimorphism, and the dominance gradient between the sexes. Compared with rhesus monkeys, cynomolgus monkeys appear to be more arboreal, less sexually dimorphic, and have a smaller dominance gradient between the sexes. They exhibit a facultative single-mount copulatory pattern rather than the serial mount pattern of the rhesus monkey. Female cynomolgus monkeys are less dominated than rhesus females by their male partners. Direct aggression between mates is more frequent and redirected aggression occurs less often than in rhesus monkeys. These behavioral differences affect the interpretation of changes in initiation rates that occur (1) during the menstrual cycle, (2) when females are ovariectomized and given hormone replacement treatments, and (3) when males are castrated and treated with androgens. We conclude that estradiol in the female and testosterone in the male increase the sexual motivation of both the treated and the untreated partner. Valid interpretations of changes in initiation rates depend on accurate and exclusive definitions of behavior and on a consideration of the behavioral context in which they are made.     

Polymorphisms of CD3epsilon in cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys and their relevance to anti-CD3 antibodies and immunotoxins

The monoclonal antibody FN18 has been used as a marker for monkey T cells and as a T-cell-depleting reagent when conjugated to diphtheria toxin that was mutated to prevent binding to non-targeted cells. The antibody recognizes a conformational epitope on the ectodomain of monkey CD3epsilon and displays a range of binding activity to the T cells from different rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys. Our quantitative fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis of the FN18 reactivity to T cells from different rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys showed that there are at least three levels of FN18 reactivity in the monkeys tested: high, moderate and low. On the basis of available DNA sequence information, we determined the gene structure of rhesus CD3epsilon chain and designed primers that can be used to amplify and quickly sequence the ectodomain of monkey CD3epsilon. Our sequence analysis revealed that the extent of nucleotide sequence variation in this area is greater than that previously reported. In addition to the amino acids at positions 45 and 50, we demonstrated that position 35 of CD3epsilon was also important and substitution of amino acid A for V at this position greatly reduced T-cell reactivity to FN18. We found that T cells from monkeys with high FN18 reactivity all had V, E and R at positions 35, 45 and 50 in CD3epsilon, respectively; those having low FN18 reactivity were homozygous in CD3epsilon with at least one of the changes: V35 to A, E45 to G and R to 50Q, whereas members in the moderate group are heterozygous, having both V and A, E and G, R and Q at these locations. A cytotoxicity assay revealed that T cells from a heterozygous rhesus monkey with moderate FN18 reactivity were much (about 40 times) less sensitive to a FN18-derived immunotoxin than those from a homozygous rhesus monkey having high FN18 reactivity.     

一株恒河猴克罗诺杆菌（阪崎肠杆菌）的分离鉴定及序列分析

目的对恒河猴粪便中分离到的一株克罗诺杆菌进行鉴定,为实验恒河猴疾病检测、鉴别诊断和治疗提供参考依据j方法通过细菌培养特性、菌落形态观察及微生物鉴定系统（ID32E）生化试验进行菌落鉴定;并进行抗生素敏感试验和小白鼠致病性试验;用PCR方法扩增分离菌株的23SrRNA基因并测序,并将其与GenBank上参考菌株23SrRNA基因核苷酸序列进行同源性分析。结果经细菌形态学和生化鉴定该细菌为克罗诺杆菌,23SrRNA基因序列与GenBank中分离自婴幼儿配方奶粉中的阪崎克罗诺杆菌（CP004091）同源性为98％。药敏试验表明该菌对甲硝哒唑耐药,对其他15种抗生素敏感。致病性试验证明该分离菌株对小白鼠有强致病性。结论该株从恒河猴中分离到的克罗诺杆菌具有较强的致病性,对实验恒河猴饲养及相关研究人员有潜在的危害,因此,在恒河猴饲养及研究过程中应引起重视。头孢、庆大霉素和诺氟沙星等药物可作为治疗恒河猴克罗诺杆菌感染的临床用药。     

Monkeys head-gaze following is fast,precise and not fully suppressible

Human eye-gaze is a powerful stimulus, drawing the observer''s attention to places and objects of interest to someone else (‘eye-gaze following’). The largely homogeneous eyes of monkeys, compromising the assessment of eye-gaze by conspecifics from larger distances, explain the absence of comparable eye-gaze following in these animals. Yet, monkeys are able to use peer head orientation to shift attention (‘head-gaze following’). How similar are monkeys'' head-gaze and human eye-gaze following? To address this question, we trained rhesus monkeys to make saccades to targets, either identified by the head-gaze of demonstrator monkeys or, alternatively, identified by learned associations between the demonstrators'' facial identities and the targets (gaze versus identity following). In a variant of this task that occurred at random, the instruction to follow head-gaze or identity was replaced in the course of a trial by the new rule to detect a change of luminance of one of the saccade targets. Although this change-of-rule rendered the demonstrator portraits irrelevant, they nevertheless influenced performance, reflecting a precise redistribution of spatial attention. The specific features depended on whether the initial rule was head-gaze or identity following: head-gaze caused an insuppressible shift of attention to the target gazed at by the demonstrator, whereas identity matching prompted much later shifts of attention, however, only if the initial rule had been identity following. Furthermore, shifts of attention prompted by head-gaze were spatially precise. Automaticity and swiftness, spatial precision and limited executive control characterizing monkeys'' head-gaze following are key features of human eye-gaze following. This similarity supports the notion that both may rely on the same conserved neural circuitry.     

Comparative genetics of a highly divergent DRB microsatellite in different macaque species

The DRB region of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of cynomolgus and rhesus macaques is highly plastic, and extensive copy number variation together with allelic polymorphism makes it a challenging enterprise to design a typing protocol. All intact DRB genes in cynomolgus monkeys (Mafa) appear to possess a compound microsatellite, DRB-STR, in intron 2, which displays extensive length polymorphism. Therefore, this STR was studied in a large panel of animals, comprising pedigreed families as well. Sequencing analysis resulted in the detection of 60 Mafa-DRB exon 2 sequences that were unambiguously linked to the corresponding microsatellite. Its length is often allele specific and follows Mendelian segregation. In cynomolgus and rhesus macaques, the nucleotide composition of the DRB-STR is in concordance with the phylogeny of exon 2 sequences. As in humans and rhesus monkeys, this protocol detects specific combinations of different DRB-STR lengths that are unique for each haplotype. In the present panel, 22 Mafa-DRB region configurations could be defined, which exceeds the number detected in a comparable cohort of Indian rhesus macaques. The results suggest that, in cynomolgus monkeys, even more frequently than in rhesus macaques, new haplotypes are generated by recombination-like events. Although both macaque species are known to share several identical DRB exon 2 sequences, the lengths of the corresponding microsatellites often differ. Thus, this method allows not only fast and accurate DRB haplotyping but may also permit discrimination between highly related macaque species.     

Prompted progression order in a troop of captive rhesus monkeys

It is a routine practice to subject captive groups of primates to single-file movement; yet no records on the sequences of such progressions have been published. The present study analyzes the progression sequence during prompted single-file movement for the purpose of routine weighing in a captive troop of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). The animals had to overcome fear before leaving their home pen; nonetheless, they left in a well-defined, stable sequence. An individual's position in this progression order as well as the consistency with which it retained its place were dependent on its age but not on its dominance status. It was suggested that the monkeys gradually learned with age to master their fear with the prospect of quickly returning to their home pen.     

Meningeal arteries in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): implications for vascular evolution in anthropoids.

The branching patterns of meningeal arteries are reported for 200 endocast hemispheres representing rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) of known cranial capacity. We detect five basic patterns for the branching of the anterior division of the middle meningeal artery and its relationship with the anterior meningeal artery. These results confirm and elaborate trends published for much smaller samples that were based on direct dissections of rhesus monkey arterial patterns. The most common pattern is that in which the anterior meningeal artery dominates the blood supply above the rostral part of the middle cranial fossa. Analysis of cranial capacities reveals that presence of this pattern on both sides of endocasts is associated with increased cranial capacity. When studied in light of published reports of anatomical dissections of cranial arteries in apes and human embryological data, the anterior meningeal artery in rhesus monkeys appears to be a possible homologue of the lacrimal meningeal artery in apes and the anterior branch of the middle meningeal artery in humans. This finding provides a step towards understanding cranial vasculature homologies that may be useful for accurately scoring the branching patterns of the meningeal arteries in monkeys, apes, and humans.