METHODS OF ANESTHETIZING CHIMPANZEES

¹ From Yale Laboratories of Primate Biology

Direct handling of the adult chimpanzee for medical treatment or other purposes sometimes demands anesthetization. Rectal administration of nembutal, or other barbiturates, appears at present to be the only satisfactory procedure for separating an infant from its mother; although, if brief anesthesia is desired, it is possible to obtain good results by confining the individual for fifteen to twenty minutes in a small space filled with ether.

Training chimpanzees to coöperate in the rectal injection procedure is a simple problem and may not prove excessively difficult with certain other species.

The minimum anesthetic dose of nembutal for normal adults is 25 to 30 mgm. per kilogram of body weight. The dose is somewhat larger for young animals. Anesthesia is effected in most cases in six to fifteen minutes; recovery, as measured by ability to eat and drink, usually comes within six to eight hours. Young animals recover in less time. Valuable animals under nembutal anesthesia should be watched carefully until signs of recovery appear.