This cooperative agreement will set aside for breeding a balanced population of 84 physically and behaviorally healthy chimpanzees. This self-sustaining complement of chimpanzees can contribute significantly to providing a stable supply of serologically naive offspring for investigative use that are behaviorally equipped to contribute to continued successful propagation in captivity after reaching adulthood. None of these animals are compromised by previous poor behavioral management or transmissible asymptomatic infectious disease research. The plan and facilities have an 8-year track record to substantiate the success of the breeding program and the cost effective delivery of high quality husbandry and care. The progressively designed physical facilities insure a balance between an enriched and protected habitat. To complement the facilities, sufficient numbers of dedicated and experienced professional and technical personnel are available to assure a successful program. We offer a professional staff with a combined 40 years of experience in chimpanzee care and management and a technical and animal care cadre with a combined 18 years of experience. Because the facility design complements the social and physical health needs of the chimpanzee in all stages of development, this quality care and enriched environment can be provided cost effectively as reflected by our projected maintenance cost of $3940-$4035/animal/year. This dedicated colony will provide the core resource to support a consortium of research proposals designed to complement the breeding program by improving chimpanzee health, well-being and productivity. The four research proposals will focus upon: a) improved techniques of artificial insemination and embryo transfer in the chimpanzee; b) improvement of diagnostic methods in the health assessment of adult infertility, abortion and stillbirth, and neonatal and infant mortality; c) the behavioral investigation of factors influencing the production of successful breeders and improvements in the husbandry of captive breeding groups will be done on a cooperative basis with two additional institutions, establishing a data base for over 160 chimpanzees; d) a comprehensive genetic management program using DNA probes to establish positive paternity identification, and other techniques to determine the population heterozygosity and genetic correlates of infertility.
| Nash, L T; Fritz, J; Alford, P A et al. (1999) Variables influencing the origins of diverse abnormal behaviors in a large sample of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Am J Primatol 48:15-29 |
