‘Social Housing’ For Improved Macaque Welfare In Labs
Life in a laboratory can be a particularly damaging kind of captivity for animals, where even basic forms of socialization and enrichment may get in the way of research findings and “good data.” Though there is some movement in the world of animal experimentation to provide slightly better living conditions to the animals that are used, the pace is slow and the gains are meager. This article looks in particular at the social housing of macaques, a primate species that is commonly used in laboratories.
The premise of the paper is that social animals can benefit from social housing arrangements, but also that different animals have different social housing needs. To test the benefits of a social living arrangement for macaques, the researchers housed two sterilized cynomolgus and rhesus macaques (male and female) in adjacent cages, separately at first, but with visual contact. After a period of acclimatisation in which the monkeys showed no aggressive behaviours towards one another, they were allowed to live in full contact with each other. The paper notes that, as of publication time, they have been living together for 10 months “with no signs of incompatibility.”
The researchers note that their experiment demonstrates that “cynomolgus and rhesus macaques of opposite genders can be successfully pair-housed in research facilities,” which is arguably better than housing these social species individually. The researchers also found that housing the two macaques together actually improved the psychological well-being of the female who has previously exhibited several abnormal behaviours. For many animal advocates, animal testing is considered unnecessary and cruel. This paper is a good reminder of the importance of enrichment for laboratory animals and also the extent to which their social lives are limited in the lab, even when they are “enriched.”