The object of this project is to establish a breeding colony of rhesus macaques, to produce 100-150 progeny per year for extramural research, all of which shall be seronegative for Herpes B virus and the retroviruses HIV, SIV (STLV-III), SRV-1 RV-2, STLV I/HLV-I.
The specific aims are: 1) To screen, identify, isolate, and quarantine seregative Chinese rhesus provided by a commercial importer to establish a breeding population of 200- 250 females. 2) To establish 12 social breeding groups of two males and 20 females and their immature offspring at the Yemassee Primate Center in rural South Carolina. 3) To maintain breeding units in year-round outdoor corrals to mimic a natural free-ranging habitat and to provide optimum environmental enrichment, physical/psychological health and reproductive performance. 4) To establish/institute veterinary management procedures insuring constant serogical monitoring, and protocols for isolation and containment so that all breeding in its remain seronegative. 5) To maximize containment should animals become seropostive after establishment of the colony by dedicating a separate quarantine building and individual caging for over 200 animals used only by this colony, and the commitment of surgery, necropsy, treatment, transportation resources dedicated to this project. 6) To establish behavioral data collection protocols to monitor social behavior in each breeding unit and to manage the reproductive, social and genealogical parameters of each monkey and its social group. 7) To maximize reproductive success of individual social units by keeping them small in size, thereby reducing aggression, and by constant monitoring/surveilence of their social behavior by highly trained behavioral technicians. 8) To computerize all clinical, behavioral, reproductive, genealogical and biographical data and analyses for rapid retrieval and accurate predictive capabilities relative to management goals. 9) To characterize every animal genetically, to establish breeding groups with maximum genetic diversity and to thereafter minimize inbreeding through behavioral monitoring and by a certain knowledge of relatedness through the assessment paternity of all progeny.
