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December 2, 2008 6:19:13 AM CST

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Red Planet of the Apes?

Posted Apr 14, 08 2:57 PM CDT in

(Newser) – The first mammal on Mars may be a monkey. Russia is testing radiation and weightlessness effects on macaques for a possible trip to the red planet. Scientists also want to see how the animals react to isolation and the special diet the 520-day mission would require, reports the BBC. Twelve monkeys have been passengers on previous Soviet and Russian space flights.

"People and monkeys have approximately identical sensitivity to small and large radiation doses," says the head of the Sochi Institute of Medical Primatology, which breeds macaques for experimentation. But a member of an international conservation group says he wishes the monkeys would stay home. "It's time to think of an alternative to experiments with animals," he says.

Source BBC

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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took this picture of Mars in 2003.   (AP Photo/NASA, FILE)
Macaques like this will exposed to conditions like they would encounter on a trip to Mars.   (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
The macaques being tested are considerably smaller than this gorilla in a space suit.   ((c) mintyboy)
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