Demographic analysis of the Washington Regional Primate Research Center pigtailed macaque colony, 1967-1996

Abstract

This work presents the results of a demographic analysis of 30 years of breeding records from the University of Washington’s recently closed Primate Field Station at Medical Lake, Washington. Summaries of population growth, age‐specific fertility and mortality rates, first‐year survival, and seasonality of reproduction are presented, as well as an analysis of survival by decade. In addition, we present data on interbirth intervals in this population. In general, pigtailed macaques represent a typical Old World monkey pattern of age‐specific fertility and mortality, with a few minor exceptions. We suggest that pigtailed macaques are most similar to rhesus and Barbary macaques, and that Japanese and bonnet macaques differ somewhat in their demographics. Am. J. Primatol. 52:187–198, 2000.