The Natural History of Model Organisms: The rhesus macaque as a success story of the Anthropocene

  1. Eve B Cooper  Is a corresponding author
  2. Lauren JN Brent
  3. Noah Snyder-Mackler
  4. Mewa Singh
  5. Asmita Sengupta
  6. Sunil Khatiwada
  7. Suchinda Malaivijitnond
  8. Zhou Qi Hai
  9. James P Higham
  1. New York University, United States
  2. University of Exeter, United Kingdom
  3. Arizona State University, United States
  4. University of Mysore, India
  5. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, India
  6. Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
  7. Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
  8. Guangxi Normal University, China

Abstract

Of all the non-human primate species studied by researchers, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is likely the most widely used across biological disciplines. Rhesus macaques have thrived during the Anthropocene and now have the largest natural range of any non-human primate. They are highly social, exhibit marked genetic diversity, and display remarkable niche flexibility (which allows them to live in a range of habitats and survive on a variety of diets). These characteristics mean that rhesus macaques are well-suited for understanding the links between sociality, health and fitness, and also for investigating intra-specific variation, adaptation and other topics in evolutionary ecology.

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Author details

  1. Eve B Cooper

    Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States
    For correspondence
    eve.cooper@nyu.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3804-6285
  2. Lauren JN Brent

    University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1202-1939
  3. Noah Snyder-Mackler

    School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3026-6160
  4. Mewa Singh

    Biopsychology Laboratory, University of Mysore, Mysuru, India
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9198-0192
  5. Asmita Sengupta

    Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, India
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2477-7290
  6. Sunil Khatiwada

    Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Garbatka, Poland
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1807-7375
  7. Suchinda Malaivijitnond

    Department of Biology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-0897-2632
  8. Zhou Qi Hai

    Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-2832-5005
  9. James P Higham

    Department of Anthropology, New York University, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1133-2030

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R01-AG060931)

  • Eve B Cooper
  • Lauren JN Brent
  • Noah Snyder-Mackler
  • James P Higham

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Helena Pérez Valle, eLife, United Kingdom

Publication history

  1. Received: February 25, 2022
  2. Accepted: July 7, 2022
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: July 8, 2022 (version 1)
  4. Accepted Manuscript updated: July 21, 2022 (version 2)
  5. Version of Record published: August 2, 2022 (version 3)

Copyright

© 2022, Cooper et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Eve B Cooper
  2. Lauren JN Brent
  3. Noah Snyder-Mackler
  4. Mewa Singh
  5. Asmita Sengupta
  6. Sunil Khatiwada
  7. Suchinda Malaivijitnond
  8. Zhou Qi Hai
  9. James P Higham
(2022)
The Natural History of Model Organisms: The rhesus macaque as a success story of the Anthropocene
eLife 11:e78169.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78169
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