![]() In many facilities, animals either are sedated or put into special cages and restrained for blood collection, both of which can be stressful, and can alter the levels of stress hormones such as cortisol. One common veterinary procedure that can be particularly stressful for primates is venipuncture. 11, 18, 32 PRT also has been used to decrease aggression and increase affiliative behavior in group-housed primates. ![]() Positive reinforcement techniques have been used to train nonhuman primates to perform various veterinary and research procedures, 3, 21, 27 including moving a body part (a thigh) close to the front of the cage for exams or injections, 18, 29, 32 taking oral medications, 7 and remaining still for blood pressure measurement 31 or blood samples. 10, 19 Each time the subject performs a behavior successively closer to the target behavior, the trainer reinforces it by ‘clicking’ (or using another secondary reinforcer) and then rewarding with a food treat. 10, 12 Subjects then are trained to perform various tasks by reinforcing successive movement (that is, shaping) toward the desired behavior. The first step in positive reinforcement training is to pair a primary reinforcer (for example, a desired food item) with an initially neutral stimulus (such as a whistle or click) to establish this stimulus as a secondary reinforcer. PRT techniques generally are preferred over negative reinforcement training, in which the subject performs a desired behavior to avoid or escape from a negative stimulus. PRT also desensitizes the animal to stressful stimuli (such as injections), thereby increasing overall well-being and creating a better experimental subject. 19, 27 By allowing the subject to exercise choice in how they perform these behaviors, 10, 13 PRT increases the animal's control over its environment (for example, the subject can choose not to cooperate). 1, 29 Positive reinforcement techniques are a form of operant conditioning 30 in which the trainer reinforces desired behaviors (such as coming to the front of the cage) by rewarding the animal when it performs the target behavior. PRT is becoming accepted as an important component of behavioral management programs for nonhuman primates. With increased emphasis placed on enhancing the psychological well-being of nonhuman primates, many research facilities are using positive reinforcement training (PRT) techniques to train primates to voluntarily participate in husbandry and research procedures such as blood sampling and administration of injections. These data demonstrate that macaques can be trained for venipuncture in a manner similar to that used for chimpanzees. The training time did not differ significantly between the 2 species. We were able to obtain repeated blood samples from 75% of the macaques and all of the chimpanzees. Both facilities used similar PRT techniques. All subjects were trained to place an arm in a ‘blood sleeve’ and remain stationary for venipuncture. In this study, we compare PRT data from singly housed adult rhesus macaques ( Macaca mulatta n = 8) with data from group-housed adult chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes n = 4). It is often assumed that macaques cannot be trained in the same manner as apes. Although studies have demonstrated that chimpanzees can be trained for in-cage venipuncture using PRT only, fewer studies have demonstrated success using similar techniques to train macaques. Blood draw is a common husbandry and research procedure that can be particularly stressful for nonhuman primate subjects. PRT increases the animal's control over its environment and desensitizes the animal to stressful stimuli. As more emphasis is placed on enhancing the psychological well-being of nonhuman primates, many research facilities have started using positive reinforcement training (PRT) techniques to train primates to voluntarily participate in husbandry and research procedures.
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