MORTALIDAD EN CRÍAS DE Aotus sp. (PRIMATES: CEBIDAE) EN CAUTIVERIO: UNA LIMITANTE PARA ESTUDIOS BIOMÉDICOS CON MODELOS ANIMALES.

Aotus is a nocturnal neotropical primate used as an experimental model in biomedical research. In 1979, the Center for Primate Reproduction and Conservation, Peruvian Project of Primatology (CRCP-PPP, initials in Spanish) in Iquitos, Peru, started rearing Aotus nancymae and A. vociferans in captivity. Achieving high offspring survival was one of the objectives. This study classifies and describes mortality of one-day to seven-month olds from 1988 through 2002 at CRCP. The information was obtained from the necropsy protocols conducted in A. nancymae (92=9%) and A. vociferans (67=16%), over a total of 1453 births (1033 A. nancymae and 420 A. vociferans). Mortality was due to pneumonias (37%) occurring from one week through one month of age in both species; gastrointestinal processes (26%), affecting offspring from one to four months of age from both species; parent rejection (18%), multiple-trauma observed in offspring one day to one month of age from both species; malnutrition (15%) starting at one month old in offspring of both species; undetermined causes (10%) and disorders of other systems (3%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]