Neonatal deaths in bonnet monkeys born to dams with rudimentary papillae mammae.

: Deaths due to dehydration and starvation occurred in the early neonatal period in bonnet monkey (Macaca radiata) infants housed with their dams in an outdoor half-acre corral. Dams were found to have small, rudimentary papillae mammae of insufficient size to permit suckling. Both papillary and breast tissue of affected dams were histologically normal; the nipples differed macroscopically from those of normal females only in size. This abnormality accounted for half of the neonatal mortality experienced in this breeding colony over a 5-year period.