A preliminary study of the effects of enrichment tools on stereotypic behavior in captive Sun Bear (Helarctos malayanus)

Abstract

The stereotypic behaviors are common in captive bear. The objectives of study were to investigate 1) the effects of new enrichment tools on frequency of hand sucking/licking (HS) and pacing in captive sun bear; 2) the response of sun bear to each new enrichment tool. The data collection was divided into 5 parts: 1) before using enrichment 2) using puzzle feeder (PF) 3) using bamboo cradle) (BC) 4) using container (C) and 5) without using any new enrichment tool. The results showed that the frequency of HS in sun bear was not significantly affected by new enrichment tools (P>0.05). The lowest frequency of pacing was found after using new enrichment tools (P<0.001). However, it was not significantly different between before and after using new enrichment tools. The frequency of pacing using PF was lower than that of using BC and C. The highest duration of response to the new enrichment tool was in PF (P=0.002). In conclusion, using new enrichment tools could not significantly reduce the frequency of hand-sucking/licking in captive sun bear. However, it could stimuli the frequency of pacing in sun bear. The captive sun bear would be more interested in the edible enrichment tool, which could reduce the frequency of pacing compared with using other types of enrichment tools. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a long-term experimental enrichment tool using program in the future study.