The Yerkes National Primate Research Center, located in Atlanta, Georgia at Emory University, is one of eight national primate research centers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The center, founded in 1930 by Robert Yerkes, the pioneering primatologist who specialized in comparative psychology, is a recognized leader for its biomedical and behavioral studies with nonhuman primates.
The Yerkes Main Station, located on 25 acres (100,000 m²) of the Emory campus in Atlanta, contains most of the center's biomedical research laboratories. The Yerkes Field Station, which houses 3,400 animals, specializes in behavioral studies of primate social groups, and is located 30 miles (50 km) north of Atlanta, on 117 acres (473,000 m²) of wooded land near Lawrenceville. The Center was relocated from Orange Park, Florida, in 1965.
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Multidisciplinary research
Multidisciplinary medical research at the Yerkes research center is primarily aimed at development of vaccines and medical treatments. Research programs include cognitive development and decline, childhood visual defects, organ transplantation, the behavioral effects of hormone replacement therapy and social behaviors of primates. Yerkes researchers also are leading programs to better understand the aging process, pioneer organ transplant procedures and provide safer drugs to organ transplant recipients, determine the behavioral effects of hormone replacement therapy, prevent early onset vision disorders and shed light on human behavioral evolution.
Controversy
Yerkes has long been the object of agitation and protest for its treatment of animals. This was especially true after the release of Frederick Wiseman's film Primate, which was shot at Yerkes and which revealed the uncaring, routinized treatment of animals undergoing painful physical procedures and even vivisection. In 2007 Yerkes was fined for unsanitary conditions and poor procedures leading to the death of a macaque monkey. Details of the funding of Yerkes and other such facilities through the National Institutes of Health has reportedly been difficult to obtain.
The "monkey washing a cat" footage was shot at Yerkes.
Directors
| Name | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Yerkes | 1930 | 1941 |
| Karl Lashley | 1941 | 1958 |
| unknown | ? | ? |
| unknown | ? | ? |
| Geoffrey Bourne | 1962 | 1987 ? |
| Frederick (Fred) A. King[1] | 1987 ? | 1994 |
| Thomas R. Insel[2] (now director of NIMH) | 1994 | 2002 |
| Stuart Zola[3] | 2002 | present |
See also
- California National Primate Research Center
- List of apes
- Oregon National Primate Research Center
- The Mind of an Ape
- Herpes B Virus
- Yerkish
Notes
- ^ "A Plea For the Chimps". The New York Times. 1987. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE4D6113AF932A15755C0A961948260. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
- ^ "Thomas R. Insel reflects on his first year as director of the primate research center". Emory Magazine. 1995. http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/summer95/inbrief.html#yerkes. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
- ^ "Stuart Zola Brings Passion and Candor to his Role as Director of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center". Emory Magazine. 1995. http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/spring2002/yerkes.html. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
External links
- Emory.edu - Yerkes National Primate Research Center (official homepage)
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- Emory.edu - 'The Capuchin Library'
- All-Creatures.org - 'World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week (around April 24)...a national week of protests, media events, etc. at laboratories to stop testing and research on animals'
- IDAusa.org (pdf) - 'Experiments Conducted on Macaque Monkeys: Psychological Torment, Behavioral Research, Effects of Nonmaternal restraint on vocalizations of infant rhesus monkeys (Macaca Mulata)', T. Jovanovich, H. Gouzoues, In Defence of Animals Report: Yerkes Institute
- PrimateFreedom.com - 'Life in a Laboratory', Primate Freedom Project
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- EmoryLies.com - 'Supporting Excellence in Research', Primate Freedom Project
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