(Macaca mulatta)

The LRC’s resident colony of rhesus macaques consists of adult male and female animals. Rhesus macaques are a species of Old World monkey native to South, Central, and Southeast Asia – the species has one of the widest ranges of known primate species.

The LRC macaques have access to both indoor and outdoor enclosures and participate in voluntary non-invasive cognitive research. The rhesus monkeys are engaged in ongoing cognitive testing using the LRC’s computerized testing system. Rhesus macaques exhibit evidence of complex cognitive capabilities, including the ability to make same-different distinctions, to engage in transitive inference, and even make metacognitive judgments. This makes them an excellent model species for understanding these capabilities in primates both human and non-human.