Silver Spring monkeys

Common card · No. 353154

The Silver Spring monkeys were 17 wild-born macaque monkeys from the Philippines who were kept in the Institute for Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. From 1981 until 1991, they became what one writer called the most famous lab animals in history, as a result of a battle between primate researchers, animal advocates, politicians, and the courts over whether to use them in research or release them to a sanctuary. Within the scientific community, the monkeys became known for their use in experiments into neuroplasticity—the ability of the adult primate brain to reorganize itself. The monkeys had been used as research subjects by Edward Taub, a behavioral neuroscientist, who had cut afferent ganglia that supplied sensation to the brain from their arms, then used arm slings to restrain either the good or deafferented arm to train them to use the limbs they could not feel. In May 1981, Alex Pacheco of the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) began...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Alex Pacheco of PETA, CC BY 3.0