Fresh vegetables and herbs, like parsley, are given to research rabbits both to enrich their environment and to provide nutrition.  This rabbit lives with seven of her sisters in a room with soft bedding and plenty of areas to explore.  Dividers, tubes, and boxes offer opportunities to chew and hide.

This is Seraphina, a Rock Dove or pigeon.  She contributes to studies focused on understanding “homing” and how the brain supports navigation and memory. People who lose their orientation, as a result of diseases such as Alzheimer’s dementia or stroke, cannot find their way around familiar environments. Researchers hope that…

Male and female Rock Doves (pigeons) in this research facility raise their babies together in a large, open, indoor aviary. The aviary includes perches, swings, water baths, nest bowls, and foraging opportunities to stimulate the birds' natural behaviors. Parents will hatch one to three squabs (baby pigeons) on average.  Both…

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…

Love, Care, Progress: Inside a Nonhuman Primate Research Facility highlights the critically important role of nonhuman primates in health research. This moving story is meant to serve as a conversation starter about the irreplaceable benefits of animal studies and the high standards of care these amazing creatures receive. Viewers will…

Afi, a male rhesus macaque monkey, is being trained to voluntarily enter into a chair then close the door behind himself.  The clicking sound heard in the video is a common method used to train animals.  It allows the trainer to immediately let the animal know that he performed the…