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Research animal retirement and lifetime care, now available through Alpha Genesis. Professionally managed lifetime care for retired research primates, with expert social reintroduction into stable outdoor groups led by veterinary staff deeply experienced in laboratory-animal medicine.
Learn moreCase study · Behavioral neuroscience
For more than two decades, a colony of 24 tufted capuchins supported groundbreaking work in cognition, motor learning, neurophysiology, and behavioral neuroscience. When the program concluded, retirement had to honor the same standard of care that defined the animals' lives in research.
Tufted capuchins retired with social groups preserved
Of behavioral-neuroscience legacy carried into retirement
Estimated 20-year cost of care the institution avoided
For more than two decades, a neuroscience research institution maintained a colony of 24 tufted capuchins supporting groundbreaking work in cognition, motor learning, neurophysiology, and behavioral neuroscience.
When senior investigators retired and the program concluded, the institution wanted retirement to reflect the same level of care that had characterized the animals' lives in research. Because many animals had lived together for years, and several had individualized behavioral-management plans, retirement required far more than arranging transportation.
Within days of being contacted, Alpha Genesis assembled veterinarians, behavioral specialists, colony managers, and experienced capuchin caregivers to review decades of accumulated medical records and behavioral histories.
Receiving habitats were prepared before the first animals arrived, allowing familiar social groups to remain together and minimizing disruption during the transition. After arrival, veterinary teams completed comprehensive examinations, baseline diagnostics, behavioral observations, and acclimation monitoring before integrating the colony into long-term housing.
Throughout, the program emphasized continuity rather than change.
Every animal was retired against a plan built from its own history, not a one-size-fits-all protocol. Each plan incorporated:
The colony continues to receive the specialized, geriatric-aware care a long-lived species requires:
“After more than twenty years, we cared deeply about getting this right. Alpha Genesis listened, built individualized plans for every animal, and kept our social groups intact. Working with them was simple and reassuring from start to finish.”
What the institution avoided
Estimated cost of care avoided
Maintaining a specialized behavioral colony independently could have cost approximately $220K–$310K per year, roughly $4.4M–$6.1M over 20 years, before infrastructure and staffing. Instead, the institution concluded its research program knowing the colony would continue receiving expert veterinary care and individualized behavioral management throughout retirement.
Outcome
A biotech sponsor closed a multi-year immunology program and retired four socially bonded rhesus macaques, kept together, through a fast, fully coordinated transition.
Learn moreAfter a strategic portfolio pivot left 425 healthy cynomolgus macaques without a planned use, Alpha Genesis ran a coordinated full-colony retirement, with a complete strategy developed in one week.
Learn moreTell us about the animals you are planning to retire and your study-closeout timeline. Our veterinary and behavioral team will review the population and respond with a responsible, professionally managed path forward.