Risk factors for self-injurious behavior in captive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) (1998)

Jorgensen, M. J., Kinsey, J. H., Novak, M. A.

Abstract

Research has shown that approximately 10% of captive, individually housed monkeys have had some veterinary record of self-injurious behavior within their life-time. The incidence of self-biting was 14% [!] in a test colony of 188 male individually housed rhesus macaques. Self-biting animals had spent more time - starting at an earlier age - in single-cages than controls. Self-biting males had been subjected to more frequent cage transfers than controls, suggesting that excessive disruption of daily routines may either cause or exacerbate self-injurious behavior.