Determining overweight and underweight with a new weight-for-height index in captive group-housed macaques.

ABSTRACT: Housing primates in naturalistic groups provides social benefits relative to solitary housing. However, food intake may vary across individuals, possibly resulting in overweight and underweight individuals. Information on relative adiposity (the amount of fat tissue relative to body weight) is needed to monitor overweight and underweight of group-housed individuals. However, the upper and lower relative adiposity boundaries are currently only known for macaques living solitarily in small cages. We determined the best measure of relative adiposity and explored the boundaries of overweight and underweight to investigate their incidence in group-housed adult male and female rhesus macaques and long-tailed macaques living in spacious enclosures at the Biomedical Primate Research Centre (BPRC),

SUBMITTER: Sterck EHM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6772146 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature