Production and standardization of the chimpanzee for research

Laboratory born and reared chimpanzees are essential for quality biomedical research and to ensure that adequate numbers of the animal model will be available to the research community without the depletion of wild populations. Production of progeny in sufficient numbers for research efforts is an expensive and time consuming task, encompassing cost efficiency factors of harem breeding, high birth rates, low maternal-infant interaction times, efficient nursery systems, and appropriate husbandry. Standardization methods provide for identical diets, handling procedures, and laboratory evaluation of all animals. Applied psychological techniques utilizing non-isolate rearing, juvenile-peer socialization, and adolescent-adult adaptation methods complete the generation cycle of the laboratory chimpanzee. Continuous microbiological and clinical chemistry monitoring provides baseline data, as well as revealing any alterations from the normal.