Background A table summarizing the primary literature on 19 species of longevous non-human primates, other than owl monkey, is presented.
Methods We prospectively quantitated the sleep of a longevous female owl monkey (Aotus azarae), aged > 30 years, longitudinally for 2 years and also evaluated the senility-induced change in spinal curvature.
Results The mean daily total sleep time (TST) of this monkey ranged between 790 and 1106 minutes, and was markedly higher in comparison with its female progeny (aged 16 years and used as a control) whose daily TST during the same experimental period ranged between 612 and 822 minutes.
Conclusion The calculated kyphotic index (KI) of 2.27 for this monkey, compared with the KIs 4.83 and 5.42, for its progeny and female grandprogeny (aged 1 year) respectively, confirmed the prominent spinal curvature.