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The Primate Centre was opened on the 49-hectare CIRMF campus in the
1980s. The Centre has become one of the most successful primate centres
on the African continent by its size and diversity of the species it
houses. The human and technical resources available have enabled the
development of biomedical, veterinary and ethological protocols of
international value. The research focuses on monkey health, first to
develop control strategies within a framework of conservation, but also
in the context of public health by assessing the risk of disease
transmission between animals and humans.
Nearly 400 primates, most
originating in Gabon (chimpanzees, gorillas, mandrills, sun-tailed
guenons, white-collared mangabeys, greater spot-nosed monkeys,
moustached guenons), the rest of Africa (vervets) or Asia (rhesus
macaques and cynomolgus macaques) are raised at this research centre.
Depending on their
needs, the animals can be housed in three types of accommodation:
- In individual cages in A2 or A3 high security buildings (quarantine
or short periods during biomedical protocols)
- In fenced and netted enclosures housing up to ten individuals
- In four enclosures covering twelve hectares of forest where the
animals live in semi-liberty. This is where more than half of the
primates at the Centre are housed.
The medical equipment of
the Centre is comparable to that of a hospital in the sub-region
(treatment room, operating room, medical imaging room) and all necessary
medical and surgical care can be provided. The primates receive annual
health checks and their population is controlled by a reproduction
control program.
An expert staff,
consisting of some twenty agents, is permanently on hand at the Centre.
The primates are cared for by three Gabonese and French veterinarians,
aided by two surgical assistants. A dozen animal technicians, supervised
by a head technician and two assistants, monitor and feed the animals,
and maintain the facilities. As part of it mission, the Centre trains
young Gabonese people to be animal technicians (training periods of two
to six months) as there is no national training school.
For nearly ten years, the
Primate Centre has been making every effort to improve the captivity
conditions for the primates. For the staff, monitoring the behaviour of
the individuals has become as important as their health. Thus, group
enclosures are preferred, the environment is enriched daily (food and
facilities) and training sessions using positive reinforcement to
encourage individual cooperation have been implemented to allow simple
medical tests on non-anesthetized animals.
RESOURCES
The treatment room
When animals are sick or
during their annual health check, they are brought into the treatment
room. The primates are always handled under general anaesthesia
(chemical immobilization with ketamine) to minimize animal stress and
bite risks for operators. The anaesthetic is administered remotely using
blowgun delivery of darts. Once a year, each primate at the Centre has a
thorough health check and receives the necessary vaccinations and
contraceptive treatments. The results of the clinical observation,
morphometric measurements, and haematological, parasitological and
virological analyses are recorded, and constitute a valuable database
and source of knowledge about each species.
In addition, since its
inception, the Centre has been creating a unique serum bank of preserved
specimens and tracking of individuals. Each time an animal is
anesthetized, a blood sample is taken, centrifuged and stored at -80° C.
This biobank allows us to perform subsequent analyses to find
pathologies unknown at the time of collection, thanks to technological
advances or scientific breakthroughs. Currently, over 30,000 samples are
available for researchers.
Medical Imaging Room
The Centre has a
radiology suite with an adjacent darkroom. Radiography is mainly used in
the diagnosis and treatment of fractures and dislocations. It also
allows us to study bone development in great apes. We also have a
powerful ultrasound, useful both in monitoring gestation and in the
exploration of abdominal disorders. Finally the Centre has just
installed a video gastroscope, for exploration (and possibly biopsy) of
the stomach, rectum and colon.
The operating room
The operating room is
fully equipped for all procedures: comprehensive instruments for surgery
of soft tissue and bone, gas anaesthesia, monitoring during operations
(blood pressure, ECG) and in intensive care, fluoroscopy, operating
microscope and endoscope for specialized surgical procedures.
Surgeries performed as
part of research protocols are often short (e.g. taking samples of
surface lymph nodes). Outside the protocols, surgery is essentially
curative (wound suturing, skin grafts for animal bites, fractures, etc.)
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Research at the Primate Centre
The Centre works with the
CIRMF research units and international institutes (Pasteur Institute,
CEA, INSERM, CNRS, IRD, University of Lyon, University of Limoges, Army
Health Service in France, Duke University in the USA, and more). The
primates, because of their phylogenetic proximity with humans, are
indeed valuable models for all sorts of comparative studies (diseases
and behaviours). In addition to studies of pathogens in cell cultures or
laboratory animals, under certain conditions primates offer unique
research subjects. For example, some of them are naturally infected with
an acquired immunodeficiency virus similar to AIDS in humans, but do not
develop symptoms associated with the disease. Understanding this
resistance therefore has major potential for applications in human
medicine. However, for environmental reasons (Washington Convention) and
ethical reasons (social animals with a high cognitive level), the use of
primates is highly regulated. Thus all research protocols conducted at
the Centre are assessed by an Ethics Committee and an International
Scientific Committee and comply with international laws on animal
welfare.
Contextual and innovative research themes
Because the Primate
Centre belongs to a Gabonese Institution, studies at the Centre focus on
diseases that have an impact on public health in the subregion. Studies
related to public health conducted in primates can be divided into two
main themes: natural infections in African primates and the development
of innovative molecules.
- The study of natural infections in African primates: Located at the
heart of the region where HIV, cerebral malaria and Ebola outbreaks
originated, the CIRMF has an exceptional work environment. Research on
SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus), STLV (Simian T-Lymphotropic Virus),
Hepatitis, SFV (Simian Foamy Virus), filariasis and plasmodia has led to
dozens of international publications by the CIRMF.
- The development of innovative molecules: CIRMF also invests heavily in
applied research, with internationally recognized results. The main
studies conducted at the Primate Centre are related to HIV (development
of new therapies, microbicide research, vaccine trials), malaria
(vaccine immunogenicity study), sleeping sickness (development of new
therapies) and chikungunya virus (therapeutic research).
In addition, primate
research specific to the Primate Centre is ongoing: ethology,
communication (olfactory, visual, aural), sexual cycle, contraceptive
strategies, ecophysiology, pathophysiology, etc. All these studies aim
to learn more about primates and better protect them.
The Primate Centre and primate conservation
The veterinarians at the
Primate Centre participate actively in the conservation of primates in
Gabon. Certain primates at the Centre are included in ecotourism
projects in Gabon: three lowland gorillas were sent to the Fernan-Vaz
Gorilla Project in 2000 and more than sixty CIRMF mandrills were
released in Lékédi Park in 2002 and 2006 (tracked using radio
transmitter collars). These animals have become ambassadors for their
species to the general public.
In addition, the Primate
Centre works closely with the sanctuaries and the Ministry of Waters and
Forests. To this end, the Centre takes in young primates orphaned by
poaching and keeps them for a secure quarantine period before
reintroducing them into the wild. Moreover, veterinarians provide
biosecurity training throughout the year to animal technicians working
in great ape sanctuaries. Finally, on a national level, veterinarians
participate in the fight against poaching with agents from the Ministry
of Waters and Forests both through education (providing the villages
with educational packs on great apes, distributing brochures explaining
hunting laws) and increased enforcement of the laws.
Feeding and Environmental Enrichment at the Primate Centre
The diet of the primates
at the Centre consists mostly of bananas, which is the only fruit
available year-round in large quantities. Every week they eat more than
two tonnes of bananas grown in the villages, some of which are more than
half a day's drive away. The bananas are transported to the Centre while
still green and the Centre staff control the ripening process.
In addition, 500 to 1000
kg of other “wild” or cultured fruits and vegetables are offered each
week to the primates, including papaya, amomes, apouboulous, eboris,
oranges, watermelons, pineapples, local and purple eggplant, African
pears, guavas, mangoes, melons, cucumbers, avocados and grapefruit.
Finally, since wild chimps and mandrills also have a carnivorous diet
(antelopes and colobus monkeys for chimpanzees, frogs, insects and
rodents for mandrills), they receive a protein supplement composed of
soybean meal and wheat flour daily. The primates are given two meals per
day. Apart from these meals, the animal technicians give out peanuts,
fruit-flavoured ice cubes, molasses and aframomum twigs (Aframomum sp.)
and costus twigs (Costus albus), two plants that great apes love for
food and making nests.
THE PRIMATES AT THE PRIMATE CENTRE
Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) - 56 specimens
Moustached guenon (Cercopithecus cephus) - 1 specimen
Moustached guenon (Cercopithecus cephus) X Greater spot-nosed
monkey (Cercopithecus nictitans) - 3 specimens
Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) - about 200 specimens
White-collared mangabey (Cercocebus torquatus) - 3 specimens
Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) - 5 specimens
Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops) - 11 specimens
Crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis) - about 30 specimens
Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) - about 30 specimens
Source: official site of
CIMRF
(2012)
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