The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates: a Report of the Committee on Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates.

National Research Council. 1998. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. $24.95

Buy the book

The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates is a reference manual providing guidelines on the captive management of primates. As the title suggests, the report aims to promote an understanding of the psychological welfare needs of primates, and as such it will be of interest to anyone working with captive primates, be it in a laboratory, a zoological park or any other setting. Surprisingly, scientific interest in the well-being of nonhuman primates is a recent area of research; with an increase in knowledge and understanding of primate behaviour, there is a growing obligation to provide adequate physical environments for those in captivity.

The report discusses a number of different strategies to address the issue of psychological well-being in primates, and by doing so it recognises that well-being can be achieved by a variety of different techniques. It is not, therefore, intended to be a "recipe book" and the authors, members of the Committee on Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates, stress that professional judgement should be used when interpreting and applying any of their report's recommendations. A continuous message throughout the report is that any programme aimed at improving the psychological well-being of primates should be based on a thorough understanding of the natural history of the various species and their traits, and should ideally account for the life histories of individual animals. The authors also emphasise that this report is not the "final word" on psychological well-being, and that it will be revised every few years so as to keep up to date with current knowledge of the issue.

The document is divided into 10 main chapters. Chapter 1 explains the unintentional misuse of the term "psychological well-being," and instead offers a more relevant definition and criteria to be used in assessing it. The authors highlight the need to combine assessments of physical health with psychological health &endash; good physical health not being synonymous with good mental health &endash; and they provide suggestions as to the sorts of behavioural indicators that are useful in assessing psychological well-being.

Chapter 2 discusses the essential elements of any programme aimed at maximising the psychological health of nonhuman primates in captivity. Such elements should include appropriate social companionship, opportunities to engage in species-typical behaviours (appropriate to the age and sex of the animals), housing that allows suitable posture and locomotion, positive interactions with care-givers and other relevant staff, and freedom from unnecessary pain and stress. These points may seem obvious to anyone who has worked with captive primates, but it should be remembered that this document was written to fill an important gap in the literature in this field.

Chapter 3 gives details of general considerations of captive primate care, including such issues as daily care, sanitation, veterinary involvement, and housing, focussing of course on the aspects of care that are important in psychological well-being. This chapter offers a review of basic institutional procedures and routines and their impact on psychological health. Chapter 4 more specifically deals with the well-being of nonhuman primates involved in laboratory research, and highlights the problem that stems from the fact that sometimes the conditions that impair psychological well-being are the subject of research themselves. This report, however, clearly states that even where this is the case, each institution should be obliged to design its protocol such that the negative effects are reduced to the greatest extent possible. Recommendations are given for the care of primates involved in research including infectious diseases, atypical rearing environments, physical restraint, painful procedures.

Chapters 5 through 9 are split into specific taxonomic groupings of primates, namely prosimians, callitrichids, cebids, cercopithecids and hominoids. Each of these chapters provides a summary of published data regarding housing, nutrition, social behaviour, reproduction and development, cognition, personnel, veterinary care, and any special considerations. Physical and behavioural characteristics of each primate group are also given, based on both wild and captive data, and these provide useful background information on various species. These chapters refer the reader to many other texts for further information about the species covered in the report. In addition, the committee of authors of this report provides recommendations on the ways to maintain these various groups of primates in captivity, to maximise their general well-being.

The final chapter details some of the research needs in this relatively new field of psychological well-being in nonhuman primates. Research of this kind is needed both to evaluate measures of psychological health and to develop suitable techniques to promote it. Various topics are put forward as suggested areas of research, such as the role of caregivers, environmental enrichment and characteristics of individual animals, in influencing the well-being of nonhuman primates.

In summary, this report is well worth having if you work with captive primates. Although many people will already have their own experiences of what works and what doesn't work in terms of primate welfare, the document lays out a variety of techniques that can help to improve psychological well-being, thus providing a good basis for further efforts to improve captive situations. As a reference manual, it should prove to be very useful.