One of the increasing goals of the Zoological Society in the late 1970s and into the 1980s was to achieve self-sustaining animal populations within the Zoo and the Wild Animal Park, as it was clear that habitat destruction and exploitation of animals in the wild was continuing to rapidly decrease populations. Dr. Kurt Benirschke, research director and head of the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES), had wanted for several years to open an off-exhibit facility for the breeding of primate species, where studies could also be done on reproductive behavior and physiology. In 1978, with funding support from donations, Dr. Benirschke was pleased to announce in ZOONOOZ that the first unit of the Vanishing Species Reproductive Center—later usually referred to as the Primate Pad—was completed, and a troop of black spider monkeys were the first primates to make themselves at home.