Animals in Research

Mom and baby rhesus on hammock

Location: Wisconsin, USA
Group: Primates
Species: Rhesus macaque
Research Areas: AIDS, Cancer, Developmental biology, Drug development, Genetic diseases, Infectious disease, Malaria, Polio, Safety and efficacy testing, Vaccine development, Zika virus

A rhesus macaque mom climbs into a hammock with her infant at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. Females reach puberty at around age three, while males are sexually mature by age four. Gestation is five and a half months, with one infant born at a time and often a year or more between births. Females can reproduce until they are about 20 years old. Rhesus monkeys can live in captivity well into their 30s.