Difficulties with Animal Models: Chimpanzee Research

Abstract

Animal models are generally used to elucidate human physiology or pathology. However, attempts to extrapolate animal model findings to humans are undermined by differences in the aetiology and natural history between any animal model condition and the analogous human condition, and by unavoidable interspecies differences in anatomy and physiology. Even when working with species “closely related” to humans, such as chimpanzees, the animal model paradigm is fundamentally unsound. Unfortunately, few animal researchers seriously question the utility of animal models, and consequently they rarely consider other, perhaps more efficient and more reliable, means of conducting biomedical research.