from 1933, entitled The Anatomy of the Rhesus Monkey (Macaca mulatta ) and the work by Berringer and coworkers from 1968, entitled An Atlas and Dissection Manual of Rhesus Monkey Anatomy. These include the work by Hartman and Straus Jr. Researchers can be referred to two anatomical atlases for further reading. Where appropriate, emphasis is put on those structures that have importance during manipulations of the animal under investigation, such as the muscles that allow for intramuscular injection and the veins that can be punctured to draw blood or inject substances intravenously. Although this chapter is rather elaborate, not all the details of the rhesus monkey anatomy can be described. The aim of this book chapter is to provide the biomedical researcher, who studies and/or uses the rhesus monkey, with the essentials of its anatomy. Examples include studies on osteoporosis, osteopenia, lordosis and kyphosis. In addition to investigations that require that the physiology of this laboratory animal parallels that of man, studies that demand a comparable anatomy are multiple as well.

HIV, SARS and Covid-19 are a few examples of viral diseases that are studied in the rhesus monkey. Rhesus monkeys are commonly used in toxicity studies and play a pivotal role in unraveling the mechanisms of health and diseases and during the development of vaccines. Only great apes present a larger degree of similarity with humans, but their use in research is very strictly regulated. Both species have common ancestry with genomes that are identical for 93.5%. This is the result of the many similarities between the rhesus monkey and humans. This animal finds its origin in the southern parts of Asia but is widespread throughout the world as one of the most frequently used laboratory animal. The rhesus monkey ( Macaca mulatta) belongs to the class of the mammals ( Mammalia), the order of the primates ( Primates), the family of the Old World monkeys ( Cercopithecidae) and the genus Macaca. The results of the dissections are textually described and illustrated by means of numerous figures. From one such cadaver the skeleton was mounted. The arthrology of the rhesus monkey was studied during the maceration of several cadavers, which ultimately revealed the individual bones that were described. In addition, methyl methacrylate casts were prepared to gain insight into the organization of the arterial system. Not only did this technique allow for better visualization of the blood vessels, but it was also valuable during the description of the peripheral nerves. The circulatory system was studied after injection of latex into the blood vessels. The cadavers of several rhesus monkeys of either gender were dissected for gross anatomical study of the muscular, digestive, respiratory and urogenital systems. This book chapter aims to fulfill the researcher’s need for easily accessible anatomical data on the rhesus monkey by presenting the essentials of its various anatomical systems. Its similarity to humans regarding the anatomy and physiology has resulted in an increasing number of studies in which the rhesus monkey serves as a model. Amongst the non-human primates, the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) is the most commonly investigated species in biomedical research.

Chimpanzee vs human skeleton anatomy