Reproductive and neonatal outcomes in captive bred baboons (Papio hamadryas)

Abstract

Baboons are widely used in biomedical research. Although it is widely held that Papio hamadryas breed well in captivity, each established colony has a different reproductive success often hypothesised to be due to husbandry practices. The National Baboon Colony in Australia is a unique colony that houses Papio hamadryas to mimic that structure seen in the wild. In this article; we have analysed their reproductive parameters and neonatal outcomes. The success of the colony husbandry practices was demonstrated by lack of maternal mortality, low foetal morbidity, and known maternal and paternal linage.

Measurement of sex steroids in murine blood and reproductive tissues by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

“…We are grateful to Scott Heffernan for providing us with hamadryas baboon serum from the NHMRC national baboon colony [52], Dr Simon de Graaf and Dr Natasha Ellis from the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney for obtaining sheep and horse serums, respectively. Mamdouh Khalil and staff in the Molecular Physiology Unit at the ANZAC Research Institute are acknowledged for their help with the various mouse studies.…”

Nonhuman Primates

“…The length of the menstrual cycle or intermenstrual interval varies among species, between individuals of each species, and with the age of the individual (Birrell et al, 1996;Gauthier, 1999). Gauthier (1999) summarized several reports describing intermenstrual cycle length of wild and captive baboon species.…”

The baboon (Papio sp.) as a model for female reproduction studies

“…Alternatively, hormonal contraceptive agents such as medroxyprogesterone acetate or combined oral contraceptives can be used to manipulate the cycle [15, 18.] Females typically become sexually mature between 4 and 6 years of age [19, 20.] In a closed colony at the Southwest National Primate Research Center (San Antonio, TX), females are maintained in breeding groups from approximately 6 years until 16 to 18 years of age.…”

“…Pregnancy can be diagnosed accurately by trained personnel observing changes in perineal sexual skin, bimanual palpation, and/or the use of ultrasound [8.] Gestation length is approximately 163–185 days [6, 8, 9, 19, 23, 24, 25.] Standard biometric ultrasound measurements are available to determine gestational age and growth profiles of fetuses [26, 27, 28, 29.]…”

“…Infants are born more developed than humans, but depend on their dams for care and nutrition up to and beyond weaning. Typically, the infants are carried by the dams until approximately 5 to 6 months of age when the dam will wean the infant off the breast [6, 19, 30.] The infant will still cling to the dam (even if pregnant again), or other adults after weaning, learning the normal foraging and other behaviors of the adults [7.…”