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Risk factors for stereotypic behavior and self-biting in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): animal's history, current environment, and personality.

ABSTRACT: Captive rhesus macaques sometimes exhibit undesirable abnormal behaviors, such as motor stereotypic behavior (MSB) and self-abuse. Many risk factors for these behaviors have been identified but the list is far from comprehensive, and large individual differences in rate of behavior expression remain. The goal of the current study was to determine which experiences predict expression of MSB and self-biting, and if individual differences in personality can account for additional variation in MSB expression. A risk factor analysis was performed utilizing data from over 4,000 rhesus monkeys at the California National Primate Research Center. Data were analyzed using model selection, with the best fitting models evaluated using Akaike Information Criterion. Results confirmed previous research that males exhibit more MSB and self-biting than females, MSB decreases with age, and indoor reared animals exhibit more MSB and self-biting than outdoor reared animals. Additionally, results indicated that animals exhibited less MSB and self-biting for each year spent outdoors; frequency of room moves and number of projects positively predicted MSB; pair separations positively predicted MSB and self-biting; pair housed animals expressed less MSB than single housed and grate paired animals; and that animals expressed more MSB and self-biting when in bottom rack cages, or cages near the room entrance. Based on these results we recommend limiting exposure to these risk factors when possible. Our results also demonstrated a relationship between personality and MSB expression, with animals low on gentle temperament, active in response to a human intruder, and high on novel object contact expressing more MSB. From these results we propose that an animal's MSB is related to its predisposition for an active personality, with active animals expressing higher rates of MSB.

SUBMITTER: Gottlieb DH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3973020 | biostudies-other | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Risk factors for stereotypic behavior and self-biting in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): animal's history, current environment, and personality.

Gottlieb Daniel H DH Capitanio John P JP McCowan Brenda B

American journal of primatology 20130502 10

Captive rhesus macaques sometimes exhibit undesirable abnormal behaviors, such as motor stereotypic behavior (MSB) and self-abuse. Many risk factors for these behaviors have been identified but the list is far from comprehensive, and large individual differences in rate of behavior expression remain. The goal of the current study was to determine which experiences predict expression of MSB and self-biting, and if individual differences in personality can account for additional variation in MSB e ...[more]

PMID: 23640705

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Project description:Infant temperament is theorized to lay the foundation for adult personality; however, many questions remain regarding personality in infancy, including the number of dimensions, extent to which they are adult-like, and their relation to other outcomes, such as mental and physical health. Here we tested whether adult-like personality dimensions are already present in infancy in a nonhuman primate species. We measured personality and subjective well-being in 7-month-old rhesus macaques (N = 55) using the Hominoid Personality Questionnaire and Subjective Well-Being Questionnaire, both of which were developed for adult primates based on human measures. Multiple human raters, who provided infants with daily care since birth, independently rated each infant. We found high interrater reliability. Results from a parallel analysis and scree plot indicated a five component structure, which, using principal components analysis, we found to be comprised of dimensions relating to Openness (e.g., curiosity, inquisitive, playfulness), Assertiveness (e.g., dominance, bullying, aggressive), Anxiety (e.g., vigilance, fearful), Friendliness (e.g., sociable, affectionate, sympathetic), and Intellect (e.g., organized, not erratic). These components are largely analogous to those in adult macaques, suggesting remarkably stable structural personality components across the lifespan. Infant macaques' subjective well-being positively correlates with Openness and Assertiveness and negatively correlated with Anxiety, similar to findings in adult macaques and other primates. Together, these findings suggest that, in macaques, infant personality dimensions may be conceptually related to adult personality and challenge the view that infant temperament may be disorganized and not as meaningful as adult personality. Further research is necessary to explore the antecedents, predictive validity, and stability of these personality components across situations and with development.

Project description:Rhesus macaques are the most widely utilized nonhuman primate model in biomedical research. Previous efforts have validated fewer than 900 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this species, which limits opportunities for genetic studies related to health and disease. Extensive information about SNPs and other genetic variation in rhesus macaques would facilitate valuable genetic analyses, as well as provide markers for genome-wide linkage analysis and the genetic management of captive breeding colonies.We used the available rhesus macaque draft genome sequence, new sequence data from unrelated individuals and existing published sequence data to create a genome-wide SNP resource for Indian-origin rhesus monkeys. The original reference animal and two additional Indian-origin individuals were resequenced to low coverage using SOLiD™ sequencing. We then used three strategies to validate SNPs: comparison of potential SNPs found in the same individual using two different sequencing chemistries, and comparison of potential SNPs in different individuals identified with either the same or different sequencing chemistries. Our approach validated approximately 3 million SNPs distributed across the genome. Preliminary analysis of SNP annotations suggests that a substantial number of these macaque SNPs may have functional effects. More than 700 non-synonymous SNPs were scored by Polyphen-2 as either possibly or probably damaging to protein function and these variants now constitute potential models for studying functional genetic variation relevant to human physiology and disease.Resequencing of a small number of animals identified greater than 3 million SNPs. This provides a significant new information resource for rhesus macaques, an important research animal. The data also suggests that overall genetic variation is high in this species. We identified many potentially damaging non-synonymous coding SNPs, providing new opportunities to identify rhesus models for human disease.

Dataset Information

Risk factors for stereotypic behavior and self-biting in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): animal's history, current environment, and personality.

Publications

Risk factors for stereotypic behavior and self-biting in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): animal's history, current environment, and personality.

Similar Datasets

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