This proposal is a competitive renewal of the NCBRP at the YRPRC, now completing its ninth year of funding. The purpose of this program is to produce and manage a colony of chimpanzees for future biomedical and behavioral research. In recent years, the limited demand for chimpanzees in biomedical research has shifted the emphasis from production to maintenance of the colony size. In this application, the applicants propose to continue a program for breeding and management that will provide for maintenance of the current colony size and genetic variability, yet will be capable of rapid expansion of production in the event that demand for chimpanzees suddenly increases. Under a new PI, most effort will be directed to improved management of this important resource with initiatives in genetic characterization, environmental enrichment, behavioral training, and enhanced housing. Genetic characterization will include a comprehensive survey of genomic markers and banking DNA from every animal. Environmental enrichment and behavioral training will be integrated into the general management of the colony to provide for behavioral well-being and to facilitate use of chimpanzees in compatible, independently funded research. The applicants are committed to a program of fiscal management that will explore new sources of income as well as reducing the cost of colony maintenance. As one approach to both cost reduction and environmental enrichment, funds are requested for a new corral for housing a large social group of chimpanzees. These new initiatives planned for the next funding period should ensure that the breeding colony will be behaviorally competent, genetically diverse, and readily accessible to research programs of vital importance.
| Bard, Kim A; Bakeman, Roger; Boysen, Sarah T et al. (2014) Emotional engagements predict and enhance social cognition in young chimpanzees. Dev Sci 17:682-96 |
| Bard, Kim A; Dunbar, Sophie; Maguire-Herring, Vanessa et al. (2014) Gestures and social-emotional communicative development in chimpanzee infants. Am J Primatol 76:14-29 |
| Leavens, David A; Ely, Jon; Hopkins, William D et al. (2012) Effects of cage mesh on pointing: hand shapes in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Anim Cogn 15:437-41 |
| Bard, Kim A; Brent, Linda; Lester, Barry et al. (2011) Neurobehavioral Integrity of Chimpanzee Newborns: Comparisons across groups and across species reveal gene-environment interaction effects. Infant Child Dev 20:47-93 |
| van Ijzendoorn, Marinus H; Bard, Kim A; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J et al. (2009) Enhancement of attachment and cognitive development of young nursery-reared chimpanzees in responsive versus standard care. Dev Psychobiol 51:173-85 |
