Objective To observe the intestinal pathological changes of dead rhesus monkeys bred under captive conditions，and to explore the rule of distribution of characteristic pathological changes． Methods One hundred and fiftyfive naturally died monkeys in the age of 2 to 20 years，bred in institutes in Yunnan province，were autopsied from 1998 to 2008. The monkeys were divided into young，adult and old groups according to their age． The intestinal changes were investigated by routine histopathological examination and analysis by chi-square test． Results Of the 155 monkeys，58 animals had intestinal lesions ( 37. 42% ) ． The main lesions included chronic enteritis，acute enteritis，bleeding and erosion，ulcers，perforation，parasite infections and others． All kinds of intestinal lesions occured in the 3 age groups． Among these lesions the incidence rate of acute enteritis is the highest ( 20. 00% ) and increased with increasing ages． The chi-square test showed that the distribution of main intestinal lesions had no statistically significant difference among the 3 age groups． Conclusions The incidence rate of intestinal diseases in the bred rhesus macaques is high． The intestinal changes are not correlated with the ages of the captive rhesus macaques． Severe acute eneritis is the main cause of death of the captive monkeys． We should pay enough attention to the intestinal lesions，especially acute enteritis，when raise and study rhesus monkeys． The results of our test provide useful information in quality control of captive monkeys and relevant animal studies．