Presenter: Tessa S
Authors: Tessa Sivertsen
Faculty Advisor: Melissa Seaboch
Institution: Salt Lake Community College
In 1985, amendments were made to the Animal Welfare Act which encouraged ethical practices in primatological research. While caring for captive primates, research facilities must follow a plan to promote the psychological well-being of primates. These plans must address issues such as social grouping needs, environmental enrichment, and seek to encourage species-typical behavior. The efficacy of such measures may be assessed by comparing the activity budgets of captive primates with wild conspecifics, with discrepancies being indicative of poor psychological well-being.Otolemur garnettiiis a small, nocturnal primate endemic to eastern Africa. A colony of 15 captiveO. garnettiiare housed at the Primate Behavioral Research Center at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). They are singly-housed in cages measuring 77x77x152xcm, each containing two shelves and enrichment items such as toys, shelters, and branches. Using an ethogram and instantaneous focal sampling in five second intervals, I derived behavioral data from approximately five hours of footage of a single specimen housed at USM. This data was used to construct an activity budget forO. garnettiiby calculating the percentages of time spent engaged in each behavior. This budget was then compared to the activity budget of wildOtolemur crassicaudatus.The budget ofO. crassicaudatuswas used in lieu of an activity budget forO. garnettii,due to the close relatedness of the two species and a lack of available data for wildO. garnettii.Comparing the activity budgets of captiveO. garnettiiwith wildO. crassicaudatusrevealed a stark difference in behavior, withO. garnetiiengaging in reduced foraging and locomoting behaviors, as well as increased stereotypic behaviors. While further sampling is necessary to enrich this data, these comparisons may be used to inform ethical practice in primatological research, and improve provisions provided by primate research facilities.