The Health of Rhesus Macaques in Single Housing versus Paired Housing
Thesis Statement:
The psychological and physical well-being of paired housing rhesus macaques is significantly better than single housing macaques.
Audience:
The audience is the average American citizen, with at least a high school education and perhaps a college degree. The audience may also have an interest in animal experimentation including laboratory monkeys. The audience is also the instructor of this course.
Outline
I. Primates used in laboratories
A. Rhesus macaque good candidate
1. Living conditions in the wild
2. General conditions of laboratory housing
B. Strict rules about health and well-being, mental and physical
1. USDA statements on primate housing
C. Brief introduction to housing
1. Thesis statement
II. Arguments against paired housing with rebuttals
A. Aggression in paired macaques
1. Role in primate society
2. Effects on individuals in captivity
a. Dominant/subordinate relationship in paired housing
b. Stress, injuries
B. Aggression is a natural tendency (rebuttal)
1. Dominant/subordinate relationship beneficial to both members of pair
2. Injuries are rare (give stats)
C. Reproduction in females
1. Subordinate females experience stress, less fertile
2. Subordinate females found to be more fertile than individually housed females (rebuttal)
D. Methods of paired introduction
1. Effectiveness of Doyle et al. (2008) introduction technique
2. Effectiveness of Crockett et al. (1994) introduction techynique
III. Benefits of paired housing and criticisms of single housing
A. Grooming
1. Time spent grooming one another versus oneself
2. Less stereotypic self-directed behavior (SDB)
3. Grooming board for single monkeys – helpful substitute
B. Amount of time engaged in play and enrichment activities
1. Paired
2. Singly housed
a. Need for more enrichment for single monkeys when compared with
pair housed monkeys
IV. Conclusion
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