History of Primate Center Monkeys at Henry Vilas Zoo

The Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center (The "Regional" has since been dropped) was established in 1961 through a grant from the National Institutes of Health. This grant has supported center facilities, research and operations on campus as well as at a 5,000 square-foot round monkey house at the Henry Vilas Zoo.

The zoo structure, completed in 1963, cost about $189,000 and was originally designed as a holding facility to quarantine animals acquired elsewhere in the U.S. or abroad, before foreign exports of monkeys were banned in the 1970s. This use was discontinued after the center was able to rely entirely on its own breeding colony in the 1970s. The facility then became a breeding, research and observation area, housing colonies of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and stumptailed monkeys (Macaca arctoides), which are a threatened species.

The building's original, May 13, 1963, lease agreement stated that the City of Madison would provide the university with land for the primate facility for an initial term of 20 years, with three renewal periods at 10-year intervals following the original 20-year term. The center paid the city (and later on, the county, since Dane County now controls the zoo) $1 each time it renewed the lease.

In the early 1990s, the facility underwent extensive renovations, including the installation of year-round heating, an improved animal treatment area, and a shower for research staff.

Research at the zoo

Past behavioral studies and conservation biology research on the UW's zoo monkeys helped scientists learn more about both captive species and their wild counterparts. Scientists have tested genetic and endocrine monitoring systems, as well as social organization and the behavior of large primate groups.

Perhaps the most noted research was conducted by Frans de Waal during the 1980s. Based on his research on the zoo monkeys, de Waal wrote Peacemaking Among Primates and other influential publications on the complex social relationships of nonhuman primates and the apparent empathy they show for one another.

De Waal and Lesleigh Luttrell also studied at the zoo the first monkey known to be developmentally retarded due to a genetic condition similar to Down Syndrome. In 1990, they reported that the monkey, named Azalea, offered "a rare chance for investigators to determine how a primate with a retarded social repertoire copes among normal peers in a stimulating environment." Azalea's situation-that of having to adjust to the exact same environment as everyone around her-contrasted sharply with that of humans with Down Syndrome, who are typically institutionalized or take part in other therapy programs with others who share their disability. Instead of making her vulnerable, de Waal found that Azalea's weaknesses brought out the best in her companions, and they took care of her.

Other center scientists and students over the years also conducted behavioral research at the zoo. In the mid-1990s, Nichelle Cobb spent more than 1,000 hours over two years cataloging the movements of a group of 65 rhesus monkeys for her study on the behavioral differences between male and female monkeys before age 3. In 1981, Stephen Holman and Robert Goy studied adoption and "aunting" parenting behaviors in rhesus monkeys at the zoo. In the 1970s, Gordon Stephenson and Deborah Yoshihara investigated the importance of social rank in the zoo rhesus troop, while Charles Weisbard examined behaviors of stumptail mothers and infants and their effect on the social dynamics of the whole troop. At various times in the zoo facility's past, there were also pigtailed and cynomolgus monkeys housed for observation and behavioral studies.

Humankind has learned much about nonhuman primates through this research-our vast similarities, and our notable differences.

A changing climate

For a long time, the relationship between the zoo and the Primate Center was viewed as mutually beneficial. Monkeys were used in research at the zoo and on campus as part of a formal, contractual agreement with the National Institutes of Health, and they were at the same time available for the public's enjoyment and education.

By the 1980s, however, animal rights activists began demonstrating on campus. Protestors typically marched to the zoo, where they attracted more attention from onlookers and the media. Since the UW's ownership of the round house monkeys was not obvious to casual zoo visitors unless they read the signs posted around the facility, damaging incidents involving both UW and Vilas Zoo personnel and property occurred. In 1983, the round house and other zoo displays were defaced with spray paint. Accusations and questions were directed at zoo personnel.

Because of these incidents, Zoo Director David Hall approached then Primate Center Director Robert Goy in 1990 and asked for a policy statement regarding the use of the UW's zoo monkeys. The requested letter of agreement, dated June 15, 1989, stated that "the Center's policy regarding animals removed from these established [zoo] troops ensures that they will not be used in studies at our facility involving invasive experimental procedures. Such animals will be assigned to the Center's nonexperimental breeding colony, where they are exempt from experimental use."

The letter accurately reflected center practices at the time. Yet it was not a formal, contractual agreement with the National Institutes of Health, which supported the animals for research.

In 1990, Goy retired and, under new Primate Center leadership and amidst changing federal research priorities, some monkeys born at the zoo were assigned to biomedical research on campus to fill an increasing need for research animals to solve human health problems such as AIDS and diseases related to aging.

In August 1997, the Capital Times reported that the Primate Center broke its 1989 agreement with the zoo in at least 65 instances, all involving rhesus monkeys. A UW investigation ensued. The UW announced that it would uphold the original intent of the 1989 letter and that no further UW owned zoo monkeys would be used in invasive research at this facility. On Feb. 1, due to declining research funding and the local use restrictions, the National Institutes of Health ended support for the UW zoo monkeys at the Henry Vilas Zoo. After months of negotiations with county officials and other entities on how best to ensure long-term support for the colonies, the UW relocated its zoo monkeys. The Primate Center transferred 143 rhesus monkeys that had been housed at the zoo to the Tulane Regional Primate Research Center in Covington, Louisiana, on March 4, 1998. On Aug. 31, 1998, the Primate Center sent 55 stumptailed monkeys from the zoo to the Wild Animal Orphanage wildlife sanctuary in San Antonio Texas.