Behavioural analysis of solitary versus socially housed snow leopards (Panthera uncia), with the provision of simulated social contact

Macri, Alaina; Patterson-Kane, Emily

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2010.12.005

Cited by 19 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Outside of visitor interaction, cats spent the majority of their time in passive behaviours, and a relatively short amount of time in active or maintenance behaviours. This is consistent with findings described by other authors, in zoo-housed servals [39] as well as many other felids [20,[40][41][42][43][44][45]. Hence, a daily pattern involving extended periods of rest interspersed with short bursts of activity appears to be a recurring phenomenon amongst captive felids.…”

Section: Behavioural Measuressupporting

confidence: 92%

The Effect of Behind-The-Scenes Encounters and Interactive Presentations on the Welfare of Captive Servals (Leptailurus serval)

Acaralp-Rehnberg

Coleman

Magrath

et al. 2020

Animals

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The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a small African felid that is well represented in zoos and often serves as an animal ambassador in encounter programs with zoo visitors. The impact on serval welfare in relation to such programs has not been investigated to date, and the aim of this study was to assess short-term welfare effects of varying levels of visitor interaction in two captive servals. Weekly blocks of four different treatments were imposed three times on each animal over 12 weeks, and the treatments involved (1) Presentations (serval undertaking a routine training session in a designated presentation space, typically attracting high visitor numbers), (2) Behind-the-scenes (BTS, a close encounter allowing a small group of visitors to interact closely with the cat in its enclosure), (3) Presentations and BTS combined, and (4) No visitor interaction. Serval activity budgets as well as behavioural diversity were created from behaviours observed from Close Circuit Television (CCTV) footage during four daily recording sessions per animal over three consecutive days per treatment, using instantaneous scan sampling every 60 s. Individual faecal samples were collected daily to monitor changes in faecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) concentration. Results indicate that the mean number of scans with stereotypic pacing was significantly reduced (p = 0.01) during Treatments 1 and 3, when cats participated in presentations only, or the two activities combined. Conversely, a significant reduction in behavioural diversity (p < 0.001) was observed when cats participated in Treatment 3, i.e., cats expressed fewer behaviours when interaction with visitors was more frequent. FGM concentrations did not vary significantly with treatment (p > 0.05). Given the reduction in stereotypic pacing, these findings suggest that involvement in an encounter program appears to exert an overall positive short-term welfare effect on the individual servals in this study. Although a reduction in behavioural diversity was not considered a negative welfare effect in the short term, potential long-term negative welfare effects resulting from a more frequent encounter program could not be ruled out in the present study.

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Section: Behavioural Measuressupporting

confidence: 92%

The Effect of Behind-The-Scenes Encounters and Interactive Presentations on the Welfare of Captive Servals (Leptailurus serval)

Acaralp-Rehnberg

Coleman

Magrath

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…Specifically, we found that housing cats individually rather than in a social group a few nights per week did not alter their time spent sleeping, sleeping position, lead to increased pacing or door pounding, or cause any other behavior changes indicative of a welfare concern. While we conducted this assessment with tigers accustomed to social housing, we feel that the findings are more broadly applicable as social housing of solitary species is an accepted practice in zoological institutions [Wharton and Mainka, ; Wielebnowski et al, ; Price and Stoinski, ; Macri and Patterson‐Kane, ]. In fact, this practice is likely to increase in popularity in the future as we continue to learn more about the flexibility of animal social systems in both wild and captive environments, and as the potential welfare benefits are revealed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, De Rouck et al [] found that tigers housed in pairs spent more time engaged in a wider variety of behaviors than singly housed animals, and also paced less than singly housed tigers as well as paired tigers housed adjacent to other tigers. On the other hand, a study of snow leopards demonstrated no difference in overall activity and amount of pacing between solitary and socially housed cats [Macri and Patterson‐Kane, ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, it is thought that many animals in zoos can be housed in a greater diversity of social groupings than in the wild due to the absence or reduction of particular environmental constraints [Price and Stoinski, 2007]. In fact, along with tigers, other felids species considered to be solitary in the wild are housed effectively as social groupings in zoos, including cheetahs and snow leopards [Wharton and Mainka, 1997;Wielebnowski et al, 2002;Macri and Patterson-Kane, 2011].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavioral Analysis of Tiger Night Housing Practices

2013

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The systematic evaluation of changes in animal management practices is critical to ensuring the best possible welfare. Here, we examined the behavioral impacts of intermittently housing our six adult female tigers, who have been housed socially for much of their lives, individually overnight to allow for specialized care required by their advancing age. We looked for behavioral changes indicative of both positive and negative changes in welfare by monitoring time spent asleep, sleeping position, body position while awake, as well as pacing, door pounding, self-grooming, roaring, and chuffing while housed socially as compared to individually overnight. Housing condition did not affect time spent asleep, sleeping positions assumed or the more preferred body positions while awake. Further, pacing, door-pounding, and roaring were infrequent and not altered by housing condition. Self-grooming did increase when housed individually but no evidence of over-grooming was present and chuffing, a close proximity social vocalization, was more likely to occur when socially housed. Taken together, these findings support the notion that transitioning to individual housing as needed is a viable option for managing cats accustomed to being maintained in a social group.

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“…Instantaneous sampling proved to be an accurate reflection of the amount of time spent by an animal in various behaviours (Leger 1977). Several studies have used instantaneous sampling technique with one minute (Bashaw et al 2003(Bashaw et al , 2007Skibiel et al 2007;Macri & Patterson-Kane 2011), two minutes (Anderson et al 2010), 15 minutes (Lyons et al 1997) and 9-19 minutes (Vickery & Mason 2004) intervals to study behaviour and their temporal changes in different animals in captivity. Challender et al (2011) used scan (instantaneous) sampling with 15 minutes to study feeding, locomotion, social behaviour and the activity pattern of Sunda Pangolins Manis javanica.…”

Section: Behavioural Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural sampling techniques and activity pattern of Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata (Mammalia: Manidae) in captivity

Mohapatra¹,

Panda²

2013

J. Threat. Taxa

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Funding: This study is a part of the research project funded by Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi.Competing Interest: Authors declare no competing interests.Author Details: R.K. Mohapatra is working as Junior Research Fellow; has registered for his PhD in Utkal University, Odisha with an objective to understand behavioural patterns, space utilization, reproductive biology, haematology, effect of environmental enrichment and identification of ecto-and endo-parasites of captive Indian pangolins which will be ultimately helpful in captive management and breeding of the species. Dr. S. Panda is currently working as Director, Nandankanan Biological Park, Odisha. He is the project investigator of the research project. He has co-authored 7 books and 30 research papers in the field of wildlife and biodiversity. His research interest includes wildlife conservation, in-situ and ex-situ management of wildlife and biodiversity studies.Author Contribution: Both authors conceived the study, participated in its design and coordination. RKM contributed in behavioural data collection, data analysis, review of literature and in drafting the manuscript. Both authors contributed to revision of the manuscript and approved the final manuscript. Acknowledgements:The authors wish to extend their sincere thanks to the Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi for their financial support in undertaking the research work in Pangolin Conservation Breeding Center at Nandankanan Zoological Park, Odisha, India. Abstract:The study presents data on six Indian Pangolins Manis crassicaudata observed in captivity at the Pangolin Conservation Breeding Centre, Nandankanan, Odisha, India over 1377 hours of video recordings for each pangolin between 1500hr and 0800hr on 81 consecutive observational days. Video recordings were made through digital systems assisted by infrared enabled CCTV cameras. The data highlights patterns relate to 12 different behaviour and enclosure utilization. Different interval periods for sampling of instantaneous behaviour from video recordings have been evaluated to develop optimal study methods for the future. The activity budgets of pangolins displayed natural patterns of nocturnal activity with a peak between 20:00-21:00 hr. When out of their burrow, they spent about 59% of the time walking in the enclosure, and 14% of the time feeding. The repeatability of the behaviours has a significant negative correlation with the mean time spent in that behaviour. Focal behavioural samples significantly correlated with instantaneous samples up to 15 minutes interval.The correlation values gradually decreased with the increase in sampling interval. The results indicate that results obtained from focal sampling and instantaneous sampling with relatively shorter intervals (≤5 minutes) are about equally reliable. The study suggests use of focal sampling, instead of instantaneous sampling to record behaviour relating to social interactions.

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Behavioural analysis of solitary versus socially housed snow leopards (Panthera uncia), with the provision of simulated social contact

Cited by 19 publications

References 16 publications

The Effect of Behind-The-Scenes Encounters and Interactive Presentations on the Welfare of Captive Servals (Leptailurus serval)

The Effect of Behind-The-Scenes Encounters and Interactive Presentations on the Welfare of Captive Servals (Leptailurus serval)

Behavioral Analysis of Tiger Night Housing Practices

Behavioural sampling techniques and activity pattern of Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata (Mammalia: Manidae) in captivity

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