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To identify factors predicting abnormal behavior in laboratory monkeys, we observed all available singly housed 4- to 11-year-old male pigtailed macaques (Macaca nemestrina), the species/age/sex group most likely to be referred to the Washington National Primate Research Center's Psychological Well-Being Program for behavioral assessment. Of the 87 subjects, 29 had been referred to the program whereas 58 had not. Abnormal behavior was unrelated to the subject's housing location (biocontainment vs. other facility) or invasiveness of research. Nursery-reared subjects displayed more abnormal behavior than mother-reared subjects. Across and within rearing categories, the proportion of the first 48 months of life spent singly housed was positively related to the amount of abnormal behavior at maturity. This effect was stronger for subjects separated from the mother for clinical rather than experimental reasons, and least for mother-reared subjects. Locomotor stereotypy, by far the most frequent form of abnormal behavior, was positively related to time in single housing but was unrelated to rearing. These results reinforce the importance of tactile social contact during juvenility for the prevention of abnormal behavior in social primates. They also suggest that self-directed abnormal behaviors and locomotor stereotypies have different etiologies.

Urinary free cortisol responses to five cage sizes, cage level, room change, tethering adaptation, chronic catheterization, and ketamine sedation were measured in 14 female and 14 male wild-born adult Macaca fascicularis. Urinary free cortisol, a physiological measure of psychological well-being that can be collected unobtrusively, provided a measure of the animals' general adrenocortical response to various conditions over a time course of hours. Urinary free cortisol values in response to stimulation with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) validated the measure as a reflection of blood values. Cortisol values were expressed as a ratio to creatinine, which normalized for differences in urinary output and body weight (muscle mass). Cage size (20-140% of regulation floor area) and housing level (upper vs. lower cage) had no effect on stress, as measured by cortisol excretion. Room change elicited a slight increase in cortisol excretion for the first day, but not to a level suggesting stress. Sedation, surgery, some aspects of tethering adaptation, and chronic catheterization produced urinary cortisol evidence of stress. Even so, animals varied in their responses and all showed adaptation. Males and females did not differ in normal mean values but females tended to have higher cortisol levels in response to potential stressors investigated in this study. Cortisol levels continued to decline gradually throughout the study. o 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The authors tested the effects of varying cage size on the behavior of 10 female and 10 male Macaca fascicularis by singly caging them for 2 weeks in each of 5 cage sizes, ranging from approximately 20% to 148% of regulation size. Behavior in the regulation cage size, a size 23% smaller, and a size 48% larger did not differ in any analysis. Locomotion was significantly less in the 2 smallest cage sizes. Abnormal behavior occurred only 5% of the time, did not increase as cage size decreased, and did not change significantly over nearly 3 years. Disruption of the normal activity budget in the laboratory environment proved to be a useful indicator of psychological well-being. Moving to a new room and, to a lesser extent, moving into a new, clean cage, regardless of size, was associated with disrupted sleep the 1st night and suppressed activity, especially self-grooming, the next day.