Training Nonhuman Primates to Cooperate With Scientific Procedures in Applied Biomedical Research

Abstract

This report provides a brief overview of aspects of training nonhuman primates who have been, and continue to be, used in this laboratory. The research context involves applied behavioral studies in which animals are trained to perform complex operant behavioral sequences, often in their homecage environment. In such studies, animals have freedom to choose whether to engage in appetitively reinforced behavioral tests that employ neither food deprivation nor fluid management. This background of operant conditioning has provided an insight to, and a context for, animal training both as an adjunct to general laboratory management and as a way to expedite scientific procedures. Thus, training has potential implications for both well-being and scientific quality, although it must be considered an adjunct to the provision of socialization with conspecifics in high quality diverse housing systems and not as an alternative to such provision. The importance of discussion and consideration of alternative procedures cannot be overemphasized.

Refinement of the use of food and fluid control as motivational tools for macaques used in behavioural neuroscience research: Report of a Working Group of the NC3Rs

“…This requires careful preparation and training of the animals, to form positive relationships with staff, to accept the necessary degrees of restraint required by the experiment, to work for reward, to learn the experimental task and to perform it repeatedly (Laties, 1987;Newsome and Stein-Aviles, 1999;Sauceda and Schmidt, 2000;Fairhall et al, 2006;Scott et al, 2003;Rennie and Buchanan-Smith, 2006;Crist and Lebedev, 2008).…”

“…Common marmosets have been trained to respond to stimuli in order to gain access to a preferred fluid (banana milkshake) that is not encountered elsewhere in the diet Scott et al, 2003). This reward can sustain daily performance on touch-screen-mediated discrimination tasks presented from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) for up to 15 months .…”

Refinements in husbandry, care and common procedures for non-human primates

“…For cognitive tests, data from animals tested in pairs may also be acceptable, particularly since distress caused by social isolation can seriously interfere with behavioural data. It may also be possible to carry out cognitive tests in the home enclosure, with test individuals temporarily separated from conspecifics by a mesh barrier, or in a separate area that animals can choose to enter (Crofts et al 1999, Scott et al 2003). It may also be possible to house animals together where they are on different studies, but this will require good liaison between the research groups concerned.…”

“…† The need for capture and restraint should be avoided if possible. This can be achieved by carrying out procedures in the home enclosure (see Scott et al 2003), training animals to enter transport cages and to cooperate in procedures that are relevant to what will be done with them (Prescott et al 2005a). Handlers need to be aware that primates can be injured as a result of forceful removal from an enclosure, especially when individuals cling to the bars or mesh sides, so where capture and restraint are unavoidable, the least stressful procedures should be used.…”

“…The best method for catching and carrying marmosets, tamarins and macaques for routine procedures such as relocation or weighing, is to train them, using positive reinforcement, to move into a catching box (Reinhardt 1992a,b, Klein & Murray 1995, Scott et al 2003. Reinhardt (1992b) found that rhesus macaques trained by positive reinforcement would enter transport crates in a reliable order (influenced more by age than dominance) each time capture was initiated and that this ensured that specific animals could reliably be caught.…”