Primate welfare in captivity has significantly improved over the last century, due to the advances made in providing an adequate diet and environment. The skeletal collections of museums provide evidence of this shift in captive care, because metabolic disease caused by dietary deficiency or inappropriate surroundings can cause deformation to the hard tissues. The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS) holds a collection of 1,507 non-human primate skulls in its Odontological Collection, the majority donated prior to the mid twentieth century from various sources. We observed a recurring gross pathology in 51 of these skulls, noted in museum records as captive animals. In all cases, general bone thickening with decreased bone density is the main feature and primarily involves the bones of the maxillofacial region and mandible. We computer tomography scanned a sub-sample of these skulls to further investigate these pathological features. We compared the RCS historical collections and a more recent captive primate collection at the National Museum of Scotland. The findings suggest that a metabolic bone disease is the causative agent, with osteomalacia the likely diagnosis. Osteomalacia typically occurs due to malnutrition and/or insufficient ultraviolet light exposure and in this case reflects the inadequacy of zoo primate management during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Developments have since been made in captive animal welfare, due to improvements in nutrition and environment. Metabolic bone disease in primate captivity can be regarded as a lesson from the past.

Inclusion of osteological material in primatological research has a long history, and use of skeletal remains continues to be important in anatomical and anthropological research. Here we report a set of proven methods, including equipment, protocol, and procedure, which enable relatively simple acquisition of skeletal material from naturally deceased animals in field sites and sanctuaries. Such skeletal material, often with extensive accompanying life-history data, is a unique and valuable source of data for both academic and conservation-based research.