Wednesdays are our activity nights at the church, and we decided that for the activity, we would go to the OHSU Primate Research center.
I had no idea that we even had a Primate center so close to us, so it was quite an experience. I told my mom that I would probably never see that many monkeys at the same time in my entire life! We saw the Rhesus Monkeys first (see picture below). There were about 150 of them in a huge outdoor area. It was fun to watch them all play, and the babies were really cute. The tour guide told us that they live to be only about 8 or 9 in the wild, but here they are living to be double that age. The guide told us that in Seattle there is a male monkey that is 45 years old. She also said that these monkeys were bred specifically for the research. They didn't take any from the wild. Overall they have about 3,000 monkeys.
Next we went and saw some more monkeys. They were another kind of Rhesus, but I can't remember the full name. They were climbing all over the cages, and they had even more babies in their cages. She said that by 2 days old the babies are able to jump and climb around without falling. They were very curious, and the all found their "Buddies" (as the tour guide would say), and sat next to each other while we watched.
Below is a picture of the cages where the monkeys above stayed. They lined both sides of the path, and it smelled like a zoo. It is really amazing some of the things they are studying with the monkeys. They are studying fertility treatments, AIDS ( because the type of AIDS the monkeys get is very similar to the kind humans get), Behavior, and lots lots LOTS more. We also got to go inside a Lab where someone was working on fertility treatments. When women have cancer, and they have to go through all of the treatments, they sometimes go infertile. So she was working on helping women who have had cancer but still want children. So we got to see some monkey eggs under a microscope. It was very cool.
Next we went and saw some more monkeys. They were another kind of Rhesus, but I can't remember the full name. They were climbing all over the cages, and they had even more babies in their cages. She said that by 2 days old the babies are able to jump and climb around without falling. They were very curious, and the all found their "Buddies" (as the tour guide would say), and sat next to each other while we watched.
Below is a picture of the cages where the monkeys above stayed. They lined both sides of the path, and it smelled like a zoo. It is really amazing some of the things they are studying with the monkeys. They are studying fertility treatments, AIDS ( because the type of AIDS the monkeys get is very similar to the kind humans get), Behavior, and lots lots LOTS more. We also got to go inside a Lab where someone was working on fertility treatments. When women have cancer, and they have to go through all of the treatments, they sometimes go infertile. So she was working on helping women who have had cancer but still want children. So we got to see some monkey eggs under a microscope. It was very cool. 
That would have been very interesting. Monkeys are fun to watch!
ReplyDeleteIt was fascinating, I liked this trip. I'm glad we had the chance to go.
ReplyDeletethat is very cool, thanks for coming and commenting on my blog so often, and I just want you to know that i love you and that your heavenly father loves you! remember!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun activity. It would be really cool to learn the kinds of things that they are researching there. And it would be really fun to watch all those monkeys--especially the babies. :)
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