Researchers perform a fetal ultrasound on a pregnant rhesus monkey to study the link between the Zika virus and birth defects.  They are trying to learn how, when and where the virus infects the fetus and causes disease.  When an adult male is infected, the virus is cleared quickly.  But…

Ferrets spend 75% of their day sleeping, but are very active when awake. They like to explore, forage, play, hide, rest, and groom and their housing should afford them opportunities to engage in all of these species-typical activities.  Enclosures often include hammocks, resting shelves, hiding places, ladders, and toys.  Ferrets…

This is the Oregon National Primate Research Center Nonhuman Primate Training Specialist.  She is training a monkey, Finch, in a group to take medication, which allows him to stay in his colony, instead of being removed to the hospital. Avoiding such removals helps to reduce not only the stress to…

The Oregon National Primate Research Center is currently evaluating various forms of research methods to improve traditional cognitive testing. This Rhesus macaque is using a touchscreen to determine his cognitive ability as part of a neuroscience research project. He is being shown a video of other monkeys, in place of…

Monkeys are given enrichment such as toys, swings, climbing structures and other items to increase their behavioral diversity. Many of these objects are rotated on a regular basis, to keep them novel.  This indoor enclosure for the monkeys at Oregon National Primate Research Center provides many opportunities that encourage natural…

Here a husbandry technician is providing food enrichment to rhesus macaques in their corral. This kind of positive interaction between monkeys and their caretakers can improve well-being for the animals (or, for the animals and the humans!).

Nonhuman primates, like these Rhesus macaques, are naturally curious. They spend a great deal of time foraging and investigating novel objects in their natural habitats. Environmental enrichment provides a way to simulate a natural environment for monkeys that are needed for research.  This increases opportunities for the expression of species-typical…