ABSTRACT
Nonhuman primates have played an important role in biomedical research not only from the perspective of discovery, but also as a translational bridge between basic science and human medicine. Nonhuman primates belong to the order Primates, which contains two suborders, Strepsirrhini and Haplorrhini. Although nonhuman primates are primarily found in the tropics, two species, Macaca mulatta and Macaca fuscata. New World monkeys are found in Central and South America, and consist of four families of primates, the Cebidae, Aotidae, Atelidae, and Pitheciidae. The two most common noncallitrichid New World primates used in biomedical research are the squirrel and owl monkeys, with the squirrel monkey being the most commonly used New World primate in the United States. The Old World nonhuman primate species primarily used in biomedical research arise from the subfamily Cercopithecinae and include macaques, baboons, African green monkeys, and mangabeys. Sexual dimorphism varies among nonhuman primate species with arboreal species exhibiting little to no sexual dimorphism.
