Ape behavior in two alternating environments: comparing exhibit and short-term holding areas.

In many facilities, primates are voluntarily transferred between different enclosures on a daily basis to facilitate animal husbandry and exhibit maintenance. This procedure is particularly relevant in the management of great apes living in zoos, where the requirements of functional management must be balanced with the desire to maintain enriching and naturalistic exhibit enclosures that benefit ape residents and attract the visiting public. In these settings, examinations of ape behavior and welfare typically focus exclusively on activity in the primary exhibit area. However, physical, social and sensory experiences unique to each area may shape different patterns of behavior. In the current study, zoo-living chimpanzees and gorillas were moved each day from exhibit areas to off-exhibit holding areas for a short duration as a part of regular management procedures. Behavioral data indicated species-specific reactions to the holding area, including increased aggression and self-directed behavior by chimpanzees and increased activity and prosocial behavior among gorilla subjects. Both species showed more feeding-foraging behavior while in the exhibit enclosure. Results suggest that holding areas may not meet all behavior needs of captive great apes and demonstrate the importance of including all components of the captive enclosure in comprehensive analyses of great ape behavior and welfare.

The influence of captive adolescent male chimpanzees on wounding: management and welfare implications.

Adolescence, the period lasting from the onset of puberty to the emergence of physical and sexual maturity, is a period of social change for many species including chimpanzees. Several reports have implicitly linked the physiological changes that occur during male chimpanzee adolescence to significant disruption in the social group, which in turn may result in serious agonism and wounding. To assess the association between adolescent males and wounding rates, 38 institutions housing 399 chimpanzees among 59 social groups, recorded all wounds incurred by chimpanzees over a 6-month period. The rate of wounding did not differ between groups with or without adolescent males. Adolescent males received the most wounds, but were no more likely to cause wounds than group members of any other sex-age class. Social groups with multiple adult males experienced lower wounding rates than those with a single adult male. Results indicate that (1) adolescent male chimpanzees may receive, but not inflict, more wounds than chimpanzees in other sex-age classes; and (2) management strategies that support natural social groupings may control and limit group agonism.

Late immunoneutralization of procalcitonin arrests the progression of lethal porcine sepsis.

BACKGROUND: Procalcitonin (ProCT) is becoming increasingly recognized as a mediator as well as a marker of sepsis. Serum ProCT concentrations rise soon after induction of sepsis and remain elevated over a prolonged period of time. In contrast, many pro-inflammatory cytokines, e.g., tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta), rise and decline early in the course of sepsis. Researchers have improved survival in animal models of sepsis by prophylactically blocking IL-1beta and TNF-alpha with immunotherapy, but therapeutic treatment has been less successful in clinical trials. We hypothesized that the sustained elevation of ProCT in the serum would allow for effective therapeutic immunoneutralization of this peptide late in the course of sepsis. METHODS: Lethal polymicrobial sepsis was induced in 10 castrated, male Yorkshire pigs by intraabdominal spillage of cecal contents (1 gm/kg) and intraabdominal instillation of 2 x 10(11) cfu of a toxigenic strain of E. coli (O18:K1:H7). The treated group (n = 5) received an intravenous infusion of purified rabbit antiserum to the aminoterminus of porcine ProCT. The control group (n = 5) received nonreactive, purified rabbit IgG. The purified antiserum was infused to all animals 3 h after the induction of sepsis, at which time very severe physiologic dysfunction was manifest, and many of the animals appeared to be preterminal. Physiologic and metabolic parameters were measured until death or for 15 h after induction of sepsis, at which time all surviving animals were euthanized. RESULTS: Therapeutic immunoneutralization of serum ProCT improved most measured physiologic and metabolic parameters in septic pigs. Specifically, there was a significant increase in mean arterial pressure, urine output and cardiac index in all animals treated with ProCT antibody. Serum creatinine was significantly lower in treated animals. Although acidosis was not as severe in treated animals, as indicated by higher pH values and lower lactate concentrations, these results did not achieve statistical significance. Significantly, 11 h after the induction of sepsis there was 100% mortality in the control group while only one animal in the treated group expired. CONCLUSION: The prolonged elevation of ProCT concentrations in sepsis allows neutralization of this peptide to be effective during the course of this disorder. These findings suggest that immunoneutralization of ProCT may be a useful treatment in clinical situations where sepsis is already fully established.