The monkeys that science has been experimenting on for over a century

Few can fail to sympathize with the dozens of rhesus macaques that broke out of captivity at a Carolina medical laboratory on Saturday.

The rhesus macaque monkeys that managed to escape from the laboratory this week are among the most studied animals on the planet.

So far, only one of 43 animals bred for medical research – and which escaped from the laboratory – has been found unharmed, authorities said on Saturday.

Many others are still just meters away, jumping over the fence of the establishment, police said in a statement.

An employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee failed to fully lock a door while she was feeding and checking on them, officials said.

For over a century, they have been a mirror to humanity, revealing our strengths and weaknesses through their own intelligent behaviors, organ systems, and genetic code.

The bare-faced primates with expressive eyes were launched by rockets into space. Their genome has been mapped. They were even the stars of a reality TV show.

Animal rights groups point out that the species has been the subject of studies on vaccines, organ transplants and the impact of separating infants from their mothers. At the same time, many members of the scientific community will tell you how critical their research is to the fight against AIDS, polio and COVID-19.

In 2003, a national shortage of rhesus macaques threatened to slow down studies, and scientists were paying up to 9,000 euros per animal to continue their work.

“Every major research university in the United States probably has rhesus macaques hiding somewhere in the basement of its medical school,” according to the 2007 book, “Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World.” .

“The US military and NASA also have rhesus macaques,” writes the book’s author, Dario Maestripieri, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago, “and for years they trained them to play games computer video to see if monkeys could learn to fly planes and launch missiles.

Research begins in the 1890s

Humans have used the rhesus macaque for scientific research since the late 1800s, when the theory of evolution gained increasing acceptance, according to a 2022 research article published by the journal eLife.

The first study on the species was published in 1893 and described “the anatomy of advanced pregnancy,” according to the eLife article. By 1925, the Carnegie Science Institute had established a breeding population of monkeys to study the embryology and fertility of a species. it was similar to humans.

One of the reasons for the animal’s popularity was its abundance. These monkeys have the largest natural range of any non-human primate, stretching from Afghanistan and India to Vietnam and China.

“The other reason is that rhesus macaques, like primates, are a pretty hardy species,” said Eve Cooper, lead author of the eLife research paper and a biology professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder. “They can live in and breed in conditions that are relatively easy to maintain.”

NASA rockets and the Salk polio vaccine

In the 1950s, monkey kidneys were used to make the Salk polio vaccine. NASA also used these animals during the space race, according to a brief history of animals in space on the agency’s website.

For example, a rhesus monkey named “Miss Sam” was launched in 1960 in a Mercury capsule which reached a speed of 1,900 km/h and an altitude of 14.5 kilometers. It was recovered in good general condition.

“She was also returned to her training colony until her death at an unknown date,” NASA wrote.

Mapping the human genome

In 2007, scientists discovered the DNA of the rhesus macaque. The species shared about 93 percent of its DNA with humans, even though macaques evolved from the ape family about 25 million years ago.

In comparison, humans and chimpanzees have evolved separately since splitting from a common ancestor about six million years ago, but still have nearly 99% of their genetic sequences in common.

The mapping of the human genome in 2001 sparked an explosion of work aimed at similarly deciphering the DNA of other animals. The rhesus macaque is the third primate genome to be completed,

“They are very political”

For those who have studied the behavior of rhesus macaques, the research is equally interesting.

“They share striking similarities with us in terms of social intelligence,” said Maestripieri, a professor at the University of Chicago who wrote a book about the species.

For example, animals are very family-oriented and will side with their loved ones when fights break out, he told The Associated Press on Friday. But they also recruit allies when attacked.

“They are very political,” Maestripieri said. “Most of their daily lives are spent building political alliances with each other. Does this sound familiar? »

Maestripieri was a consultant for a reality show about some rhesus macaques in India called “Monkey Thieves.”

“They basically started tracking large groups of these rhesus macaques and giving them a name,” the professor explained. “It was beautifully done because these monkeys sometimes behave like humans. So it’s fascinating to follow their stories.

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