DARTING TERRESTRIAL PRIMATES IN THE WILD - A PRIMER

While a goal of many field primatologists is to observe subjects in as undisturbed a setting as possible, it is often necessary to anestheti ze animals for any of a variety of reasons, In this paper, we review t echniques for anesthetizing wild primates, based on our experience wit h more than a thousand such procedures carried out on baboons in East Africa. We consider the following: 1) rationales for anesthetizing a w ild primate; 2) systems for the delivery of anesthetic and choice of a nesthetic; 3) the darting process itself and issues relevant to the pe riod between darting and the safe removal of the animal; 4) handling o f an anesthetized primate; 5) medical complications associated with da rting; 6) when to reanesthetize an animal; 7) the process of recovery from anesthesia and release of an awake animal; 8) safety issues for h umans, The range of information that can be obtained through field ane sthetizations, when carried out successfully, as well as the potential benefit for the animals involved, can be enormous, However, this proc ess is not trivial from the standpoint of the dangers involved to both the subjects and to humans and because of the potential disruption of social behavior to the group. As such, anesthetizations in the field should not be carried out without a strong rationale and without a tre mendous priority given to the safety and care of all involved. (C) 199 8 Wiley-Liss, Inc.