Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
lion tail macaque belong to more divergent monophyletic
groups of macaque species, the sinica and silenus groups,
respectively, than do bonnet macaques and any species of
the fascicularis group of macaque species).
Sooty Mangabeys and African Green Monkeys
The sooty mangabey, of which two subspecies are recog-
nized (although C. atys lunulatus may actually be a sepa-
rate species, C. lunulatus, in its own right), inhabits the
floors of the coastal forests of West Africa from Senegal to
the western border of the Ivory Coast. African green
monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) live in West Africa from
Senegal to the Volta River. Their name is often used
synonymously with vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pyger-
ythrus) who inhabit the grasslands of South Africa and East
Africa, including Zambia, Ethiopia, and Somalia, north-
ward to Egypt and Eritrea, and whose name is sometimes
used in reference to the entire genus Chlorocebus. African
green monkeys were imported to the Carribbean from west
Africa (Senegambia) during the last of the 17th century and
are readily available from several Caribbean sources at
lower costs than rhesus, longtail macaques, or baboons. The
Caribbean African geeen monkeys represent the majority
of those employed in the USA for biomedical research and
are free of the African pathogenic viruses. Thus, due to the
restricted distribution of this species, genetic variation
among captive populations in the USA, as for pigtail
macaques, is probably representative of that in the natural
range of this taxon.
Japanese Macaques
Japanese macaques, sometimes called “snow monkeys,”
live at between 31
and 41
N latitude encompassing the
central Japanese islands of Honshu (including Aomori, the
northernmost prefecture of Honshu), Shikoku and Kyushu
(but not Hokkaido or Okinawa), and their nearby islands.
They live at a more northerly latitude than any other
nonhuman primate and have adapted to survive winter
temperatures as low as
4
F). Since they resemble
Chinese rhesus macaques more closely than Indian rhesus
macaques even though fossil evidence suggests their pres-
ence in Japan during the last third of the Pleistocene, they
probably continued to hybridize with Chinese rhesus
macaques after the latter's divergence from Indian rhesus
macaques at approximately 160 000 ybp.
20
C(
Baboons
The geographical ranges of baboon species cover central
and southern Africa and, with the exception of P. anubis,
are more restricted than those of most of the macaques
discussed above. Baboons are almost exclusively limited to
Africa and prefer savanna and semi-arid habitats. Four of
the five species (the olive, yellow, chacma, and guinea) are
often collectively referred to as “savanna” baboons, an
inappropriate moniker because they also inhabit the trop-
ical forests of West Africa and the deserts of Arabia. Papio
ursinus, the chacma or cape baboon, exhibits the south-
ernmost distribution of all baboons, inhabiting the cape
region from South Africa north to Angola, Zambia, and
Mozambique. To the north in south central Africa and
extending eastward to Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya,
and Tanzania are found yellow baboons, P. cynocephalus,
of which three different taxa are recognized. To the north of
yellow baboons, stretching almost coast to coast from Mali
in the west to Ethiopia in the east, lies the range of
P. anubis, the olive baboon, the most widely distributed of
all baboons. At the western and eastern flanks of their broad
range in central Africa are found the guinea (red) and
hamadryas baboons, respectively. P. anubis naturally
hybridizes with P. cynocephalus and P. hamadryas in
eastern Africa and with P. papio in west Africa where their
ranges overlap. P. papio, the Guinea (western or red)
baboon, is much more geographically restricted, inhabiting
Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, southern Mauritania, and
western Mali. P. hamadryas (or the sacred baboon) is the
only one of the five varieties whose range extends beyond
Africa; it inhabits the hills along the Red Sea coasts of
Africa and Arabia.
Phenotypic Diversity
Rhesus Macques
Rhesus macaques can reach 10 kilograms in size and have
brown to grey pelage, pink faces and rumps and tails
approximately half the length of their bodies. Like most
macaques, males and females exhibit sexual dimorphism in
size. Significant inter-animal differences in morphology of
rhesus macaques, even those from the same country, have
been described (e.g.
Fooden, 1976; Peng et al., 1993
), with
regional populations varying by size, physiology, behavior,
and geographical range. Almost all rhesus macaques bred
in captivity in the USA descend from either Indian or
Chinese ancestral populations.
Groves (2001)
recognized
subspecies distinctions among rhesus macaques in western
(M. m. vestitus), central (M. m. lasiotus), and eastern (M. m.
littoralis) China as well as those of diminutive size from
Hainan Island off the southwest coast of China (M. m.
brevicauda) and two different subspecies of Indian rhesus
macaques (M. m. villosus, from Kashmir and the Punjab in
western India and M. m. mulatta, elsewhere). Rhesus
macaques have been exported to the USA from breeding
centers in each of the regions inhabited by both alleged
Indian subspecies and the three alleged mainland Chinese
rhesus subspecies and, therefore, all are likely to be
included in the breeding stock of any particular domestic
rhesus colony, enhancing phenotypic and genetic diversity.
While Indian and Chinese rhesus macaques are not
