By the Numbers: Making monkeys

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Proposed breeding center aims to ease U.S. shortage of research monkeys

Illustration by Krieg Barrie

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30,000

The estimated number of long-tailed macaques that would occupy a proposed new breeding facility in Bainbridge, Ga. While U.S. researchers say they need a more reliable domestic supply of monkeys, animal rights activists protested plans for the $396 million complex at a City Council meeting in January.

2/3

The share of American researchers who reported recent trouble acquiring monkeys like the long-tailed macaque for laboratory experiments, according to a 2023 report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

70,000

The number of monkeys used annually in the United States in medical research, according to Science.

100%

The share of the 25 most-prescribed drugs in the United States that went through animal testing prior to coming to market, according to the Foundation for Biomedical Research.

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