Long-Term Macroevaluation of Environmental Enrichment in Three Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) at Barcelona Zoo

Abstract

Four species of bear are known that in their habitat natural manifest variable behaviors depending on the season. The objective of the present study was to assess if aberrant behaviors -as indicators of animal welfare-have annual variations for three seasonal periods -spring, summer and autumn-. Data were collected from two female brown bears (Ursus arctos) housed in the same facility at the Barcelona Zoo.Using a multi-focal continuous and a scan sampling methods, a total of 63 hours of behavior was observed and recorded per individual. Old female's aberrant behavior displays frequencies about 17%, whereas young female had a value about 5%. The results indicate that some aspects of the aberrant behavior varied according to the three seasonal periods. The old female's aberrant episodes duration and young female's aberrant behaviors intensity and occurrence varied according to the three seasonal periods. In last cases, the aberrant behavior was higher in spring followed by summer and autumn coinciding with seasonal changes of wild bears with two activity peaks: one on spring in relation to mateseeking behaviors and another on autumn in relation to foraging food behavior.Correspondence should be sent to

Abnormal Behaviours in Two Captive Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758) Females: Individual Differences and Seasonal Variations

“…behaviours were also observed in Giant Pandas (Lindburg et al, 2003) and brown bears (Montaudouin & Le Pape, 2005;Soriano, Vinyoles, & Maté, 2016).…”

Patterns of animal–enrichment interaction in captive brown bears

“…Moreover, the young female's interaction with the frozen fish was higher than the male's. Individual differences were also observed in chimpanzees interacting with peanut boxes (Bloomstrand et al, 1986), brown bears during a feeding, occupational, and sensory enrichment program (Soriano, Vinyoles, & Maté, 2016), and pigtail macaques interacting with cage toys (Kessel & Brent, 1998). These individual differences could be due to different variables such as age, sex, the animal's experience or the device material.…”

Do Gut Microbiota Correlate with Stereotypic Behavior? First Answers from Malayan Sun Bears and Insights into Ex-situ Conservation

“…The environment is quite different between wild habitats and zoos. Animals spend a lot of time searching for food with species-appropriate behaviors in the wild 6,42 , whereas the food is offered on a routine schedule, including the time to eat and the amount, when animals are kept in zoos 43,44 . Stereotypical behaviors can occupy more than 50% of the time of a captive Malayan sun bear living in a minimal undersized habitat 8 , thus the current study assumed this behavior was associated with poor physical health.…”