Two types of macaques—rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys—have for decades been subjected to cruel biomedical, psychological, and behavioral experiments, including maternal-deprivation studies and being rocketed to their deaths in space.
Monkeys, like other primates, have shown impressive intellectual abilities, such as counting and understanding relationships between numbers; using tools; misleading their friends; communicating complex information, such as alerting others to the distinct type of threat approaching (e.g., different signals if it is a snake, a leopard, or an eagle); and even demonstrating a sense of fairness.
A troop of Japanese macaques demonstrated that they have a "culture" when they began washing their food. This act, introduced by an innovative macaque, was adopted by others in the troop until it became the cultural norm—unique to this particular macaque troupe. No longer could behavior simply be attributed to instinct. This troop proved that monkeys have unique individual and group identities and that they learn, improvise, and transmit knowledge much as humans do.
Macaques also possess remarkable social intelligence. They live in highly interactive troops of 80 to 100 members and can recognize and negotiate complex relationships. A young female rhesus monkey stays with her mother and sisters for life, forming "one of the tightest and most complicated social systems known in the animal kingdom," according to renowned primatologist Frans de Waal. When shown photos of other females from their troop, female macaques are able to identify them and pick out their offspring from randomly placed photos.
Similarly, vervet monkeys will look toward the particular mother when hearing an infant's distress call; only the infant's mother will look toward the infant. Male bonnet macaques are able to recognize complicated third-party relationships to take advantage of subtle rank differentials when recruiting allies.
Confinement to laboratories is even more tragic given this context. Their entire social fabric is ripped apart when they are isolated in solitary cages. Adding insult to injury, cages are piled on top of each other without regard for natural dominance order, resulting in arbitrary relegation of some macaques to "subordinate" lower cages.
Macaques have extraordinary physical adaptability―some species live in cold climates and others in hot, dry environments. Some are adept climbers, living mostly in trees, while others live mainly on the ground. Some are great swimmers. A troop of Japanese macaques in the Nagano Mountains, in another example of unique culture, took the cue of a troop member and began a tradition of bathing in the hot springs to find relief from the frigid winters. They are omnivorous, eating primarily roots, herbs, fruits, and leaves and also some insects and invertebrates.
But in laboratories, their short, miserable existences in tiny, barren cages deny them everything natural. With little enrichment or variety, most macaques succumb to "stereotypical" behavior such as spinning endlessly or rocking and self-mutilation in a tragic attempt to cope with the desolation that they experience.
Learn more about Covance's cruel experiments on monkeys at CovanceCruelty.com.