8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VOL. 125 
door of the scientist. In Sierra Leone it has been estimated that, for 
every young chimpanzee exported for research or for zoos, between 
four and six mothers have to be killed. Since each of these mothers 
might be expected to produce up to ten offspring in a lifetime, the 
potential loss to the wild population for every young chimpanzee 
captured is between forty and sixty individuals. Estimations of this 
sort can never be particularly reliable, but even the loss of a single 
breeding female for every infant captured could eventually have 
a severe effect on population numbers. 
There are clearly several ways of approaching the problem of 
diminishing primate stocks. Firstly, there is the matter of conserva- 
tion. This is an admirable concept, and, indeed, conservationists can 
chalk up a number of important successes for which the whole world 
should be grateful, but unless the aims of conservation are anticipa- 
tory rather than retrospective, the problem of the primates will not 
be solved by such measures. The only possible procedure for the orang- 
utans of Borneo (it seems inevitable that the Sumatran race is past 
saving) is to establish protected colonies on suitable islands. The 
real problem for the future are monkeys such as the patas, the vervet, 
the baboon, and the macaque, all of which, though plentiful now, may 
not always remain so. On the basis of present trends, it is difficult to 
see how natural populations of these animals can survive beyond the 
end of the century. It is the potentially vanishing species that should 
be the principal targets of conservationists, not populations that are 
already doomed. 
Information is urgently needed on the population numbers of free- 
ranging primates, particularly the most popular laboratory animals, in 
order to guide future policies on importation of primates and the 
establishment of breeding colonies at home. We have little or no precise 
knowledge of current wild population numbers or of population 
dynamics in the countries of origin of these animals. Rumors abound, 
but factual information is lacking. 
Choice of Primates in Medical Research 
Although the literature in recent years on the care of primates in 
medical research laboratories has grown astronomically, relatively 
little consideration has been given to the selection of primates spe- 
cifically appropriate to particular types of research investigations. 
The choice of a nonhuman primate is largely a hit-or-miss affair 
and will continue to be so until the biological properties of all species 
have been fully investigated. Reference to recent publications (e.g., 
Montagna, 1967), to the symposium volumes edited by Vagtborg 
(1965) and Fiennes (1966), respectively, and to the textbooks of 
