Appl Anim Behav Sci 2019 May 8;214:102-109. Epub 2019 Mar 8.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Michale E. Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, 650 Cool Water Drive, Bastrop, TX, 78602.
Voluntary participation in behavioural studies offers several scientific, management, and welfare benefits to non-human primates (NHPs). Aside from the scientific benefit of increased understanding of NHP cognition, sociality, and behaviour derived from noninvasive behavioural studies, participation itself has the potential to provide functional simulations of natural behaviours, enrichment opportunities, and increased control over the captive environment, all of which enhance welfare. Despite a developing consensus that voluntary participation offers these welfare enhancements, little research has empirically investigated the ways that participation in behavioural studies may affect welfare. Read More