A monogamous system of breeding chimpanzees in a controlled environment

The management and reproductive performance of a chimpanzee colony is discussed. Short-term monogamous breedings, arranged at the estimated time of ovulation, as determined by the cyclical changes in sex skin tumescence and by a new immunological test for the preovulatory peak in urinary LH excretion, are planned according to blood group and social compatibility. Progress of gestation is monitored weekly by the "NICHD subhuman primate pregnancy test" and by prenatal clinical examinations in the last trimester. Fertility of individual animals, and of the colony as a whole, is reflected in the number of cycles of breeding required for conception. The indoor system of single caging of adults and the special system of animal waste collection offers the ability to completely control and manipulate the animals for efficient breeding, for clinical health care, and for implementation of scientific protocols.