Dataset Information

Evaluation of the Impact of Behavioral Opportunities on Four Zoo-Housed Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer).

ABSTRACT: Evaluations of enrichment are critical to determine if an enrichment program is meeting stated goals. However, nocturnal species can present a challenge if their active periods do not align with caretakers' schedules. To evaluate enrichment for four aardvarks housed with a natural light cycle, we provided seven different enrichment items aimed at fulfilling two behavioral goals: exploring and foraging. We wanted to understand how the aardvarks used enrichment, if enrichment promoted the defined goals, and how enrichment that achieves its goals affects welfare indicators, including rates of pacing and social behaviors, behavioral diversity, and fecal glucocorticoid metabolites. Twenty-minute observations from video were performed three times a night for a total of 224 observed hours. We found significant differences in how the aardvarks used items from the two enrichment goals throughout the night, with foraging enrichment used more than exploring at first and exploring enrichment used more later. We found that items promoted their defined goals, and aardvarks showed no evidence of habituation throughout the eight-week study. The impact on selected welfare indicators provided evidence of potentially positive changes, including increased affiliative and decreased agonistic interactions accompanying increases in goal behaviors. These results contribute to the current knowledge available on the impact of goal-directed behavioral opportunities on zoo animal welfare.

SUBMITTER: Hamilton J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7460251 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Evaluation of the Impact of Behavioral Opportunities on Four Zoo-Housed Aardvarks (<i>Orycteropus afer</i>).

Hamilton Jennifer J Fuller Grace G Allard Stephanie S

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20200817 8

Evaluations of enrichment are critical to determine if an enrichment program is meeting stated goals. However, nocturnal species can present a challenge if their active periods do not align with caretakers' schedules. To evaluate enrichment for four aardvarks housed with a natural light cycle, we provided seven different enrichment items aimed at fulfilling two behavioral goals: exploring and foraging. We wanted to understand how the aardvarks used enrichment, if enrichment promoted the defined ...[more]

PMID: 32824400

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Project description:Abnormal behaviors in captive animals are generally defined as behaviors that are atypical for the species and are often considered to be indicators of poor welfare. Although some abnormal behaviors have been empirically linked to conditions related to elevated stress and compromised welfare in primates, others have little or no evidence on which to base such a relationship. The objective of this study was to investigate a recent claim that abnormal behavior is endemic in the captive population by surveying a broad sample of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), while also considering factors associated with the origins of these behaviors. We surveyed animal care staff from 26 accredited zoos to assess the prevalence of abnormal behavior in a large sample of chimpanzees in the United States for which we had information on origin and rearing history. Our results demonstrated that 64% of this sample was reported to engage in some form of abnormal behavior in the past two years and 48% of chimpanzees engaged in abnormal behavior other than coprophagy. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the historical variables that best predicted the occurrence of all abnormal behavior, any abnormal behavior that was not coprophagy, and coprophagy. Rearing had opposing effects on the occurrence of coprophagy and the other abnormal behaviors such that mother-reared individuals were more likely to perform coprophagy, whereas non-mother-reared individuals were more likely to perform other abnormal behaviors. These results support the assertion that coprophagy may be classified separately when assessing abnormal behavior and the welfare of captive chimpanzees. This robust evaluation of the prevalence of abnormal behavior in our sample from the U.S. zoo population also demonstrates the importance of considering the contribution of historical variables to present behavior, in order to better understand the causes of these behaviors and any potential relationship to psychological wellbeing.

Dataset Information

Evaluation of the Impact of Behavioral Opportunities on Four Zoo-Housed Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer).

Publications

Evaluation of the Impact of Behavioral Opportunities on Four Zoo-Housed Aardvarks (<i>Orycteropus afer</i>).

Similar Datasets

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