Nonhuman Primates in Biomedical Research

Nonhuman Primates in Biomedical Research was first published in 1976.This introduction to nonhuman primates, theory biology and behavior, focuses on the utility and importance of these animals in biomedical research. The author begins with a general discussion of the selection of animals suited for specific experiments, then proceeds to a review of the primates, their evolution, distribution, diversification, and biological properties. There are two accounts of behavior: the first deals with behavioral patterns in general; the second discusses behavioral patterns within a society as exemplified by studies of natural troops of Japanese macaques.The final section gives examples of diseases that are common to monkeys and man: tumors, arterial disorders, cholesterol gallstones, diabetes mellitus, yellow fever, malaria, and tuberculosis. In this connection the author strongly emphasizes the specific experimental ways in which investigators have used monkeys to better understand the course of the diseases, and, ultimately, to develop therapeutic measures to combat them.There is a foreword by Sherwood L. Washburn, former professor of anthropology, University of California, Berkeley.This is the third volume in the series of Wesley W. Spink Lectures on Comparative Medicine. It is based on the lectures given in 1975 at the University of Minnesota and Carleton College.