Britches (born March 1985) was a stump-tailed macaque monkey born into a breeding colony at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). He was removed from his mother at birth, had his eyelids sewn shut, and had an electronic sonar device attached to his head — a Trisensor Aid, an experimental version of a blind travel aid, the Sonicguide — as part of a three-year sensory-deprivation study involving 24 infant monkeys.^[1] The experiments were designed to study the behavioral and neural development of monkeys reared with a sensory substitution device.^[2][3]

Acting on a tip-off from a student, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) removed Britches from the laboratory on April 20, 1985, when he was five weeks old.^[4] The raid also saw the theft of 467 mice, cats, opossums, pigeons, rabbits, and rats, and a reported $700,000-worth of damage to equipment.^[5] A spokesman for the university said that allegations of animal mistreatment were absolutely false, and that the raid caused long-term damage to its research projects.^[6]

The ALF handed the video of their raid over to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which released it. The NIH conducted an eight-month investigation into the animal care program at the university and concluded it was an appropriate program, and that no corrective action was necessary.^[7]

The study[link]

As reportedly found by the ALF

The study was conducted by psychologist David H. Warren.^[8] Five groups of four macaques were to be raised from birth to three months, and one group to six months, blinded while wearing a Trisensor Aid. Other control groups were to wear the device with normal vision, or wear a dummy device with no vision. At the end of the experiment, the monkeys were to be killed, and the visual, auditory and motor areas in their brains would be studied.^[8]

According to PETA's president Ingrid Newkirk, based on papers found in the lab by the ALF, the UCR researchers wrote that performing the study by artificially blinding the monkeys was necessary because there were insufficient numbers of blind human infants within driving distance of Riverside. The researchers did not want to conduct the study in the homes of blind children because of the difficulty of carrying out the research amid routine household chores, according to Newkirk.^[9]

The burglary[link]

After the bandages were removed.

Newkirk writes that the ALF was alerted to the laboratory's work by a student who had reported the Britches' situation to an animal protection group, Last Chance for Animals. An ALF contact volunteering there heard the complaint, and approached the student for more information.^[10] On April 21, 1985, ALF activists, including Sally S, a businesswoman in her mid-30s,^[11] broke into the laboratory and removed Britches along with around 467 other animals, taking footage of the burglary, which they handed anonymously to PETA.^[12]

Activists say they found Britches, who was given his name by the researchers, alone in a cage with bandages around his eyes and a sonar device attached to his head. The device emitted a high-pitched noise every few minutes. He was clinging to a device covered in towelling that had two fake nipples attached, apparently intended to serve as a surrogate mother. He was handed to an ALF volunteer, a woman, who drove him from California to Utah, where he was examined by a retired pediatrician. According to UCR officials, the ALF also smashed equipment resulting in nearly $700,000-worth of damage. Theodore Hullar, UCR's executive vice chancellor, said the researchers' work had been set back years.^[13]

Medical report[link]

Veterinarian ophthalmologist Ned Buyukmihci of the University of California, Davis, and founder of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, said after he examined Britches that the sutures used were too large, the monkey's eye pads were dirty, and that, in his view, there was no justification for what he called a sloppy, painful experiment.^[4] Bettina Flavioli, a retired pediatrician, also examined the monkey and recorded a report:

"Attached to infant's head by means of bandage and tape is an apparatus of some sort with what appears to be some sort of electrical cord extending from it. It has been cut. Bilaterally are short lengths of tubing emerging from the bandage. Tape is in direct contact with the face and neck. Bandage lifted rostrally from right eye due to excessive moisture and right eye partially visible.

Beneath the bandages are two cotton pads, one for each eye ... Both pads are filthy and soaked with moisture. Bilaterally upper eyelids are sutured to lower eyelids. The sutures are grossly oversized for the purpose intended. Many of these sutures have torn through lid tissue resulting in multiple lacerations of the lids. There is an open space between upper and lower lids of both eyes of about one quarter inch, and sutures are contacting corneal tissue resulting in excessive tearing ...

Infant demonstrates photophobia. Penis of infant is edematous and inflamed. There are smegma accumulations. Generalized muscle development poor. Skin dry. Body odor foul."^[4]

Reaction[link]

PETA produced a film based on the ALF footage

PETA released a film called Britches that included footage from the burglary and the ALF's treatment of the monkey afterwards.^[4][14] The film prompted criticism of the experiments from other scientists and the American Council of the Blind, with Dr. Grant Mack, president of the Council, calling it "one of the most repugnant and ill-conceived boondoggles that I've heard about for a long time."^[15]

A UCR spokesman said allegations of animal mistreatment were "absolutely false," and that there would be long-term damage to some of the research projects.^[6] Researchers alleged that activists had applied black paint or mascara to the monkey's eyelids to make the sutures look larger than they were, and that damage reported by an ALF veterinarian to the eyelids had been caused by the veterinarian himself. The researchers also said that the Trisensor Aid had been removed and reattached by the ALF.^[9]

The burglary prompted the head of the National Institutes of Health to say that thefts of laboratory animals by animal rights groups could be considered acts of terrorism, and may require enactment of federal laws.^[16] Sally Sperling, a psychologist working in the lab that was burgled, told the American Psychological Association's Monitor on Psychology: "I can't describe in detail how [the lab] looked when I first saw it after the crime — the images are etched into my mind with acid ... My lab was my haven and refuge for eighteen years. Even when my experiment wasn't going well or the equipment was acting up, I wanted to be in my lab and missed it badly when I wasn't there. Now, I barely can make myself open the door."^[17]

As a result of the ensuing publicity, eight of the 17 studies interrupted by the burglary were not restarted, and the university stopped allowing infant monkeys' eyes to be sewn shut, according to reports filed by the university with the government.^[18][19] The NIH conducted an eight-month investigation into the animal care program at UC-Riverside and concluded it was an "appropriate" program, and that no corrective action was necessary.^[7] A primatologist arranged for the monkey to be socialized by a number of handlers.^[20] When he was five months old, he was flown to a sanctuary in Mexico, where he was given to an elderly female macaque who had already raised several orphans.^[4]

• Britches (monkey) 3.jpg
• 

See also[link]

• Neuroplasticity

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

v t e Animal testing Main articles Animal testing Alternatives to animal testing Animal testing on invertebrates Animal testing on frogs Animal testing on non-human primates Animal testing on rabbits Animal testing on rodents Animal testing regulations History of animal testing History of model organisms Laboratory animal sources Toxicology testing Issues Animal rights Animal welfare Pain and suffering in laboratory animals Biomedical research Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Great Ape research ban International trade in primates Controversial experiments Brown Dog affair Britches Cambridge University primates Pit of despair Silver Spring monkeys Unnecessary Fuss Companies Charles River Laboratories, Inc. Covance Harlan Huntingdon Life Sciences Laboratory animal suppliers in the United Kingdom Nafovanny Shamrock Farm Groups/campaigns Americans for Medical Progress American Association for Laboratory Animal Science American Association for the Advancement of Science Boyd Group British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection Dr Hadwen Trust Foundation For Biomedical Research National Anti-Vivisection Society People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) ALF Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Primate Freedom Project Pro-Test SPEAK Research Defence Society SHAC Stop Sequani Animal Testing Writers/activists Colin Blakemore Carl Cohen Gill Langley Ingrid Newkirk Neal Barnard Jerry Vlasak Simon Festing Tipu Aziz Categories Animal testing Animal rights

v t e Animal rights Focus Main topics (Portal:Animal rights, Category:Animal rights) Animal cognition Abolitionism Animal protectionism Animal rights Animal welfare Bioethics Sentience Speciesism Veganism Vegetarianism Subtopics Animal model Animal rights and the Holocaust Animals in sport Animal product Animal testing Animal testing on non-human primates Anti-hunting Bile bear Blood sport Covance Cruelty to animals Ethics of eating meat Factory farming Fox hunting Fur trade Great ape research ban Green Scare Huntingdon Life Sciences International trade in primates Livestock Nafovanny Open rescue Operation Backfire Pain and suffering in laboratory animals Recreational fishing Seal hunting Slaughterhouse Stock-free agriculture Veganarchism Women and animal advocacy Zoo Animal law Category:Animal law Category:Animal rights and welfare legislation Animal law Cases Britches Brown Dog affair Cambridge University primates McLibel case Pit of despair Silver Spring monkeys Unnecessary Fuss Notable advocates Academics/writers (List of animal rights advocates, Category: Animal rights advocates) Carol Adams Douglas Adams Jeremy Bentham Steven Best Paola Cavalieri Stephen R. L. Clark Priscilla Cohn Lawrence Finsen Gary Francione Robert Garner Antoine Goetschel Anna Kingsford Andrew Linzey Mary Midgley Tom Regan Bernard Rollin Mark Rowlands Richard D. Ryder Peter Singer Henry Stephens Salt Steve Sapontzis David Sztybel John Vyvyan Steven M. Wise Roger Yates Activists Greg Avery Brigitte Bardot Martin Balluch Gene Baur Frances Power Cobbe Rod Coronado Karen Davis Bruce Friedrich Juliet Gellatley Celia Hammond Barry Horne Ronnie Lee Lizzy Lind af Hageby Keith Mann Ingrid Newkirk Heather Nicholson Alex Pacheco Jill Phipps Craig Rosebraugh Henry Spira Kim Stallwood Marianne Thieme Andrew Tyler Robin Webb Nathan Runkle Notable organizations List of animal rights groups Category:Animal rights movement Animal Aid Animal Legal Defense Fund Animal Liberation Front British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection Chinese Animal Protection Network Great Ape Project Hunt Saboteurs Association Mercy for Animals Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals United Poultry Concerns Parties List of animal advocacy parties Category:Animal advocacy parties Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada Animals Count (UK) Animal Justice Party (Australia) Animal Protection Party (UK) Party Against Bullfighting, Cruelty and Mistreatment of Animals (Spain) Party for the Animals (Netherlands) Tierschutzpartei (Germany) Films A Cow at My Table The Cove Behind the Mask Earthlings Meet Your Meat Peaceable Kingdom The Animals Film Other media Animal Liberation (1975) Arkangel Bite Back No Compromise Categories Animal law Animal Liberation Front Animal rights movement Animal rights Animal testing Blood sports Livestock Poultry Veganism

A Crab-eating Macaque, an old world species of monkey native to Southeast Asia

A monkey is a primate of the Haplorrhini suborder and simian infraorder, either an Old World monkey or a New World monkey, but excluding apes. There are about 260 known living species of monkey. Many are arboreal, although there are species that live primarily on the ground, such as baboons. Monkeys are generally considered to be intelligent. Unlike apes, monkeys usually have tails. Tailless monkeys may be called "apes", incorrectly according to modern usage; thus the tailless Barbary macaque is called the "Barbary ape".

The New World monkeys (superfamily Ceboidea) are classified within the parvorder of Platyrrhini, whereas the Old World monkeys (superfamily Cercopithecoidea) form part of the parvorder Catarrhini, which also includes the hominoids (apes, including humans). Thus, as Old World monkeys are more closely related to hominoids than they are to New World monkeys, the monkeys are not a unitary (monophyletic) group.

Historical and modern terminology[link]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "monkey" may originate in a German version of the Reynard the Fox fable, published circa 1580. In this version of the fable, a character named Moneke is the son of Martin the Ape.^[1] In English, no very clear distinction was originally made between "ape" and "monkey"; thus the 1910 Encyclopædia Britannica entry for "ape" notes that it is either a synonym for "monkey" or is used to mean a tailless humanlike primate.^[2] Such confusions persist. Colloquially, the terms "monkeys" and "apes" may still be used interchangeably.^[3] Due to its size (up to 1 m/3 ft) the Mandrill is often thought to be an ape, but it is actually an Old World monkey. Also, a few monkey species have the word "ape" in their common name, such as the Barbary Ape.

Later in the first half of the 20th century, the idea developed that there were trends in primate evolution and that the living members of the order could be arranged in a series, leading through "monkeys" and "apes" to humans.^[4] Monkeys thus constituted a "grade" on the path to humans and were distinguished from "apes".^[5]

Scientific classifications are now more often based on monophyletic groups, that is groups consisting of all the descendants of a common ancestor. The New World monkeys and the Old World monkeys are each monophyletic groups, but their combination is not, since it excludes hominoids (apes and humans). Thus the term "monkey" no longer refers to a recognized scientific taxon. The smallest accepted taxon which contains all the monkeys is the infraorder Simiiformes, or simians. However this also contains the hominoids (apes and humans), so that monkeys are, in terms of currently recognized taxa, non-hominoid simians.

A group of monkeys may be referred to as a mission or a tribe.

Physical description[link]

Monkeys range in size from the Pygmy Marmoset, at 140 to 160 millimetres (5–6 in) long (plus tail) and 120 to 140 grams (4–5 oz) in weight, to the male Mandrill, almost 1 metre (3.3 ft) long and weighing 35 kilograms (77 lb). Some are arboreal (living in trees) while others live on the savanna; diets differ among the various species but may contain any of the following: fruit, leaves, seeds, nuts, flowers, eggs and small animals (including insects and spiders).

Some characteristics are shared among the groups; most New World monkeys have prehensile tails while Old World monkeys have non-prehensile tails or no visible tail at all. Some have trichromatic color vision like that of humans, others are dichromats or monochromats. Although both the New and Old World monkeys, like the apes, have forward-facing eyes, the faces of Old World and New World monkeys look very different, though again, each group shares some features such as the types of noses, cheeks and rumps.

Classification[link]

Common Squirrel Monkey

Crab-eating Macaque in Thailand

The following list shows where the various monkey families (bolded) are placed in the classification of living (extant) primates.

• ORDER PRIMATES
  • Suborder Strepsirrhini: non-tarsier prosimians
  • Suborder Haplorhini: tarsiers, monkeys, and apes
    • Infraorder Tarsiiformes
      • Family Tarsiidae: tarsiers
    • Infraorder Simiiformes: simians
      • Parvorder Platyrrhini: New World monkeys
        • Family Callitrichidae: marmosets and tamarins (42 species)
        • Family Cebidae: capuchins and squirrel monkeys (14 species)
        • Family Aotidae: night monkeys (11 species)
        • Family Pitheciidae: titis, sakis, and uakaris (41 species)
        • Family Atelidae: howler, spider, and woolly monkeys (24 species)
      • Parvorder Catarrhini
        • Superfamily Cercopithecoidea
          • Family Cercopithecidae: Old World monkeys (135 species)
        • Superfamily Hominoidea: apes
          • Family Hylobatidae: gibbons ("lesser apes") (15 species)
          • Family Hominidae: great apes including humans (7 species)

Relationship with humans[link]

The many species of monkey have varied relationships with humans. Some are kept as pets, others used as model organisms in laboratories or in space missions. They may be killed in monkey drives when they threatened agriculture, or used as service animals for the disabled.

In some areas, some species of monkey are considered agricultural pests, and can cause extensive damage to commercial and subsistence crops.^[6] This can have important implications for the conservation of endangered species, which may be subject to persecution. In some instances farmers' perceptions of the damage may exceed the actual damage.^[7] Monkeys that have become habituated to human presence in tourist locations may also be considered pests, attacking tourists.^[8]

In religion and culture, the monkey often represents quick-wittedness and mischief.

As service animals for the disabled[link]

Some organizations, for example Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled,^[9] train capuchin monkeys as monkey helpers to assist quadriplegics and other people with severe spinal cord injuries or mobility impairments. After being socialized in a human home as infants, the monkeys undergo extensive training before being placed with a quadriplegic. Around the house, the monkeys help out by doing tasks including microwaving food, washing the quadriplegic's face and opening drink bottles.

In experiments[link]

Covance primate-testing lab, Vienna, Virginia, 2004–05^[10]

Macaques, especially the Rhesus Macaque, and African Green Monkeys are widely used in animal testing facilities, either wild-caught or purpose-bred.^[11] They are used primarily because of their relative ease of handling, their fast reproductive cycle (compared to apes) and their psychological and physical similarity to humans. In the United States, around 50,000 non-human primates, most of them monkeys, have been used in experiments every year since 1973; 10,000 monkeys were used in the European Union in 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Sam, a rhesus macaque, was flown to a height of 55 miles (89 km) by NASA in 1959

The use of monkeys in laboratories is controversial. Animal rights activists claim that their use is cruel and produces little information of value, and there have been many protests, vandalism to testing facilities and threats to workers.^{[citation needed]} Others claim that it has led to many important medical breakthroughs such as the rabies vaccine, understanding of human reproduction and basic knowledge about brain function and that the prevention of harm to humans should be a higher priority than the possible harm done to monkeys. The topic has become a popular cause for animal rights and animal welfare groups.^{[citation needed]}

In space[link]

A number of countries have used monkeys as part of their space exploration programmes, including the United States and France. The first monkey in space was Albert II who flew in the US-launched V-2 rocket on June 14, 1949.

As food[link]

Monkey brains are eaten as a delicacy in parts of South Asia, Africa and China.^[12] In traditional Islamic dietary laws, the eating of monkeys is forbidden. However, monkeys are sometimes eaten in parts of Africa, where they can be sold as "bushmeat".^[13]

Literature[link]

Illustration of Hindustan monkeys called bandar that can be taught to do tricks, from Illuminated manuscript Baburnama (Memoirs of Babur)

Sun Wukong (the "Monkey King"), a character who figures prominently in Chinese mythology, is the main protagonist in the classic comic Chinese novel Journey to the West.

Monkeys are prevalent in numerous books, television programs, and movies. The television series Monkey and the literary characters Monsieur Eek and Curious George are all examples.

Simian statue at a Buddhist shrine in Tokyo, Japan

Informally, the term "monkey" is often used more broadly than in scientific use, and may be used to refer to apes, particularly chimpanzees, gibbons, and gorillas. Author Terry Pratchett alludes to this difference in usage in his Discworld novels, in which the Librarian of the Unseen University is an orangutan who gets very violent if referred to as a monkey.

The Winged monkeys are prominent characters in The Wizard of Oz.

Religion and worship[link]

Hanuman, a prominent divine entity in Hinduism, is a monkey-like humanoid. He may bestow longevity.

In Buddhism, the monkey is an early incarnation of Buddha but may also represent trickery and ugliness. The Chinese Buddhist "mind monkey" metaphor refers to the unsettled, restless state of human mind. Monkey is also one of the Three Senseless Creatures, symbolizing greed, with the tiger representing anger and the deer lovesickness.

The Mizaru or three wise monkeys are revered in Japanese folklore.^[14]

The Moche people of ancient Peru worshipped nature.^[15] They placed emphasis on animals and often depicted monkeys in their art.^[16]

Entertainment[link]

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (May 2010)

• In the Tamil country, monkeys would be trained in gymnastics by their owners for public entertainment.
• Kiki the Hyperactive Monkey of Sentosa an anthropomorphic green crab-eating macaque performs in the defunct live nighttime spectacular, Magical Sentosa which is located at, Sentosa Island, Singapore.

Zodiac[link]

The Monkey is the ninth in the twelve-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The next time that the monkey will appear as the zodiac sign will be in the year 2016.^[17]

See also[link]

Mammals portal

• List of monkeys
• List of New World monkey species
• List of Old World monkey species
• Signifying monkey

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: monkeys

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Monkey

• "The Impossible Housing and Handling Conditions of Monkeys in Research Laboratories", by Viktor Reinhardt, International Primate Protection League, August 2001
• The Problem with Pet Monkeys: Reasons Monkeys Do Not Make Good Pets, an article by veterinarian Lianne McLeod on About.com
• Helping Hands: Monkey helpers for the disabled, a U.S. national non-profit organization based in Boston Massachusetts that places specially trained capuchin monkeys with people who are paralyzed or who live with other severe mobility impairmentslez:Маймун