Abstract:The effects of different environmental enrichments on the behaviors of four captive jaguars, Panthera onca (Carnivora, Felidae), were individually evaluated. The frequency of jaguar behaviors were recorded in three phases: before, during and after environmental enrichments application. These included hose ball, scent trail, meat tubes, cardboard boxes with meat or elephant feces, stuffed pumpkins, meat ice cream, meat with animal hair, bags with meat, and sounds. The enrichments reduced inactivity and the time duration when jaguars were out of sight, and increased general activity and maintenance behaviors of all tested jaguars. However, the behavioral responses expressed considering other behaviors and after the removal of environmental enrichments varied among individuals. When there were no more enrichments in their enclosures, two jaguars seemed to be in a worse condition than before the introduction of them, while the oldest jaguar maintained all the positive effects. The other jaguar expressed intermediate responses between these two patterns after the removal of the enrichments. Although the tested enrichments improved the welfare of the jaguars, we conclude that individual variability of response to the enrichments highlights the need to consider individual variation in future studies, since some individuals may take better advantages from the enrichments than others.

Inactivity is a common daytime behavior expressed by wild cats in zoos. It is not clear whether this inactivity is due to the constraints of the captive environment or is a result of a more natural behavior by these animals. Therefore, this work evaluated the behavior of two Panthera oncacaptive specimens, including their inactivity, during the evening/night period. The jaguars were filmed individually in different days, starting at 5:30 pm and finishing between 7:00 pm and 1:30 am, including non-feeding and feeding days. Regardless of whether they were fed or not, both jaguars expressed a significant rate of inactivity. In addition, when fed, one of the jaguars increased its movements and active behaviors, although its inactivity remained high, while the other jaguar further reduced the expression of such behaviors. Therefore, this work concludes that these jaguars were just as inactive during the evening/night period as they were during daytime. Excessive inactivity might be regarded as a negative behavior; with its highest expression being an effect of the captive environment, which might compromise the welfare of the assessed jaguars and possibly of other wild cats. In addition, since the behavioral expression varied between the studied jaguars, depending on the feeding or non-feeding status, we recommend that futures studies should taking into account the individual variations, especially when there are differences in age, health, and management conditions between the specimens.