Honoring Animals Used in Research And Testing

The United States’ National Academies of Sciences estimates that as many as 22 million vertebrate animals are used every year in the United States alone for research and testing. About 85 percent of these animals are rats and mice. These tiny, furry creatures have been one of the go-to animals for biomedical researchers around the world for studies relating to everything from cancer to the effects of space travel on the human body. The scientific community is well aware of the invaluable role these rodents have played in the development of modern medicine and the lengthening of the average human lifespan from just 40 years at the turn of the 20th century to over 70 years today. Monument to lab mouse in Novosibirsk, Russia. Photo credit: Irina Gelbukh/Wikimedia A statue located in front of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Akademgorodok , near the city of Novosibirsk, pays tribute to the millions of mice sacrificed every year all over the world in the name of science. The statue depicts a mouse in a lab coat and glasses, knitting the DNA double helix. According to the director of the Institute, Nikolai Kolchanov, the Monument to the laboratory mouse “symbolizes gratitude for the animal that humanity has used to study genetics, molecular and physical mechanisms of diseases, as well as for the development of new drugs.” The first stone of the monument was laid in 2012 on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics. The bronze monument was erected the following year. Also in Russia, is this monument. It’s a monkey, or rather a frilled baboon, also called a Hamadryad. As you can probably see, the animal is pretty odd looking. The males have long hairs, up to a foot long, on their shoulders that hang like a cloak covering their upper body.