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The utility of voluntary weighing in captive group-living rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

DGM Zijlmans ,
MK Vernes ,
EHM Sterck  and
JAM Langermans
DGM Zijlmans*
Affiliation:
Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Postbus 3306, 2280 GH Rijswijk, The Netherlands Animal Behaviour and Cognition (formerly Animal Ecology), Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
MK Vernes
Affiliation:
Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Postbus 3306, 2280 GH Rijswijk, The Netherlands
EHM Sterck
Affiliation:
Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Postbus 3306, 2280 GH Rijswijk, The Netherlands Animal Behaviour and Cognition (formerly Animal Ecology), Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Joint senior authors
JAM Langermans
Affiliation:
Animal Science Department, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, Postbus 3306, 2280 GH Rijswijk, The Netherlands Department Population Health Sciences, Unit Animals in Science & Society, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Joint senior authors
*
* Contact for correspondence: d.g.m.zijlmans@uu.nl/zijlmans@bprc.nl
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Abstract

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Bodyweight is an important health and welfare indicator for captive non-human primates (NHPs). Bodyweight can be measured during routine handling procedures, which cause stress. Alternatively, animals can be trained to step onto a scale, but training success varies greatly between individuals. Being able to weigh animals regularly without having to handle or train them is thus desirable for monitoring animal health and welfare. This study investigates the utility, ie the participation, reliability and time investment, of voluntary weighing in captive NHPs living in large social groups. Subjects of the study were 92 rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) housed in four social groups at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre in Rijswijk, The Netherlands. A scale was placed in their home enclosure during several sessions. Individuals were unwilling to step onto an unbaited scale. When likeable food items were used to attract individuals to the scale, 68% of them stepped onto the scale. Age and dominance rank did not affect stepping onto the scale, whereas exploratory tendency and social group did. The level of agreement between bodyweight by voluntary weighing and bodyweight measured during sedation was very high. These results show that the majority of rhesus macaques in social groups can be weighed voluntarily and that voluntary weighing is reliable. When optimising and further developing the method, voluntary weighing can form a valuable tool in the captive management of NHPs.

Keywords

animal welfarebodyweightcaptive managementmacaquesocial housingvoluntary weighing
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , August 2021 , pp. 249 - 258
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - SA
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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