Overview

The Infant Primate Research Laboratory at the University of Washington was conceived in 1970 as a small research Wlit primarily for support of two individual's interests in early develop- ment of nonhuman primates. Because of their research emphasis, a modest nursery was required to support a small population of animals for specific experimental studies. The laboratory experi- enced rapid growth when others at the University became interested in the use of monkeys as models for early development and mental retardation in humans. In 1972 the Wlit was formally established as a core facility of the Child Development and Mental Retardation Center and the Regional Primate Research Center. This joint administrative and financial support allowed us to invest considerable effort in the development of normative data for rearing animals in our nursery as well as for identifying, documenting, and rearing subjects at high risk for neonatal death. As part of that effort, every attempt has been made to promote a multidisciplinary approach to ques- tions associated with rearing nonhuman primates. This volume includes much of the information thus gathered. I feel that such an approach is essential to the promotion of scientific principles in rearing and has allowed the laboratory to contribute to prima- tology.