Cayo Santiago

Mission

Cayo Santiago is the only population of free-ranging primates, supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), devoted exclusively to research. While the population of rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago was established in 1938 as a field site for behavioral investigations and to supply rhesus monkeys for biomedical research (see Caribbean Primate Research Center),this population is not designed for, nor currently used as a breeding colony.

Each year we welcome scientists and students from all parts of the world. Cayo Santiago provides the ideal setting for studies on rhesus macaques in a naturalistic setting. Most research investigations at Cayo Santiago have been on behavior, development, cognition and communication as well as morphology and physiology (see Key Contributions). We also welcome scientists interested in investigating the biogeography and other ecological aspects of the natural life of Cayo Santiago, including its lizards, birds and plants.

The Caribbean Primate Research Center is committed to offering the use of Cayo Santiago for undergraduate, graduate and technical student training and thesis/dissertation research. We actively recruit qualified talented undergraduate and graduate students for the Cayo Santiago Internship Program Cayo Santiago Internship Program.

Cayo Santiago is one of the world's most renowned field sites for short term and longitudinal primate studies.

Its unique research value consists of:

1. A stable and minimally disrupted long-term population management policy which allows investigators to plan and conduct longitudinal studies.
   
   
2. An extensive and detailed computerized demographic database on the colony that provides information on individuals dating back to 1957.
   
   
3. DNA fingerprinting which is applied to confirm maternal and paternal relatedness of individuals
   
   

The Cayo Santiago population, electronic database and the Laboratory for Primate Morphology and Genetics together provide an important research resource for primate studies on social behavior, morphology, physiology, genetics and spontaneous occurrence of disease, and life-history studies.