Sleep Profile and Longevity in Three Generations of a Family of Captive Bolivian Aotus

Abstract

The daily total sleep time (TST) of the only nocturnal simian primate, Aotus spp., remains little studied under controlled conditions. We conducted 3 experiments in 4 owl monkeys (Aotus sp.), aged 1-27 + yr, to determine the daily TST. We housed 3 their-a nuclear family-in 1 cage and the remaining senescent female in an adjacent separate cage. We monitored their activity-sleep pattern longitudinally for 15-20 d via actigraphy: by tagging an acclerometer-type miniature transmitter (Actiwatch-MINIMITTER) sensitive to omnidirectional movement, to the owl monkey's neck. The TST (9.5-12.5 h) was ca. 4.5-7 h less than the 17 h Perachio reported for owl monkeys in 1971 by polysomnography, under similar 12-h-light; 12-h dark conditions. Our finding corroborates well with the TST for other nonhuman primates. Four members of the Aotus colony at our facility reached 20 yr in captivity; the oldest (wild-born female) is still living at >27 yr, and the second oldest (captive-born male), is 23 years now.

Quantitation of sleep and spinal curvature in an unusually longevous owl monkey (Aotus azarae)

“…As a consequence, non‐invasive actigraphy has gained acceptance recently as a viable and alternative sleep measurement method for non‐human primates [36, 61]. Recently, in a cross‐sectional study we [48] have established that the daily mean TST of four owl monkeys ranged between 9 hours 30 minutes and 12 hours 30 minutes.…”

“…To remedy the then prevailing situation, we initiated our behavioral research program on this owl monkey colony in 2002. Recently, we [48] have compared the total sleep time (TST) of four members of this owl monkey colony, including the wild born oldest member Aa 23. Since in the wild, the young individuals of owl monkey disperse from the family group at the age of 3 years [59], we deduced that the oldest individual Aa 23 in our colony has already reached 30 years.…”

“…The current longitudinal study extending for a 2-year period, incorporated four data points and included two (Aa 23 and its progeny Aa 34) of the four monkeys used in our previous study [48]. In the current study, the daily mean TST of the longevous Aa 23 monkey fluctuated between 13 hours 10 minutes and 16 hours 56 minutes, while that of its progeny Aa 34 monkey (aged 16 years and used as a suitable control) fluctuated between 10 hours 12 minutes and 13 hours 42 minutes.…”

The cost of deep sleep: Environmental influences on sleep regulation are greater for diurnal lemurs

“…Using actigraphy data, we generated total average sleep times for each species. As in previous studies quantifying sleep in primates (Andersen et al, ; Barrett et al, ; Kantha & Suzuki, ; Zhdanova et al, ), we used the definition of sleep in actigraphy as the absence of any force in any direction during the measuring period (i.e., one minute epoch) (Campbell & Tobler, ).…”

“…The limitations of EEG have recently been overcome through technological advances involving cost‐effective actigraphy and infrared videography (Andersen, Diaz, Murnane, & Howell, ; Barrett et al, ; Kantha & Suzuki, ; Zhdanova et al, ). Here, we used actigraphic data and videography to investigate the factors that influence proxies for sleep intensity in seven different species of lemurs at the DLC, including through experimental sleep deprivation in 16 individual of four species.…”