Non-human primates used in biomedical research face significant welfare challenges due to their high cognitive complexity and social needs, raising profound ethical questions about their use.
Non-human primates in research face a fundamental welfare challenge: their cognitive and social complexity creates the conditions for rich suffering in restrictive laboratory environments. Macaques and other monkeys form complex social relationships, demonstrate theory of mind, and show evidence of anticipatory anxiety. Chronic isolation causes behavioral pathologies that persist even after social contact is restored. The ethical justification for primate research rests on necessity — using the minimum number of animals for research that cannot be conducted otherwise — but implementation of the Three Rs in primate research remains inconsistent.