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The ethics of research on great apes

Nature volume 437, pages 27–29 (2005)Cite this article

In the wake of the chimpanzee genome publication, Pascal Gagneux, James J. Moore and Ajit Varki consider the ethical and scientific challenges for scientists who work on captive great apes.

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Notes

  1. *‘Great apes’ is used here in its colloquial sense. In the commonly used classification, these species are grouped alongside humans in the family Hominidae, and humans belong to the tribe Hominini, along with chimpanzees and bonobos.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following readers for very helpful comments and suggestions: A. Zihlman, C. Tutin, D. Povinelli, D. Rumbaugh, F. B. M. de Waal, J. Goodall, J. Allman, K. Semendeferi, K. Benirschke, M. Goodman, O. Ryder, R. Wrangham, S. Boysen, S. Blaffer Hrdy, S. Savage-Rumbaugh, T. Matsuzawa, T. Murray, and W. McGrew. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conservation and Research for Endangered Species, Zoological Society of San Diego, San Diego, California, USA

    Pascal Gagneux

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    James J. Moore

  3. Department of Medicine and Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    Ajit Varki

Authors
  1. Pascal Gagneux
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  2. James J. Moore
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  3. Ajit Varki
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Gagneux, P., Moore, J. & Varki, A. The ethics of research on great apes. Nature 437, 27–29 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/437027a

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