The Zone Overlap Index: A new measure of shared resource use in the zoo
It is important that the environment provided in the zoo is relevant to the species being housed and its suitability be easily assessed by personnel. As shared space and resources can overlap in a zoo’s enclosure a tool is required to measure the effects of such overlap between individual animals in a shared enclosure. This […]
Studying Animal Feelings: Integrating Sentience Research and Welfare Science
The goal of this article is to bring together two fields of research — animal sentience research and animal welfare science — with the aim of advancing our understanding of animal emotions, especially their subjectively experienced or ‘felt’ component (feelings). While these two research areas share a common interest in animal feelings, they have had […]
Developing a Metric of Usable Space for Zoo Exhibits
The size of animal exhibits has important effects on their lives and welfare. However, most references to exhibit size only consider floor space and height dimensions, without considering the space afforded by usable features within the exhibit. In this paper, we develop two possible methods for measuring the usable space of zoo exhibits and apply […]
Death at the Zoo: The Media, Science, and Reality
Media characterizations of zoo and aquarium animal deaths were randomly monitored on the internet for a 20-month period (September 2003–May 2005). Based on 148 samples collected, it was possible to classify articles into one of four categories, which were operationally defined: 1) dispassionate observers; 2) accusers; 3) sympathizers; and 4) balancers. In addition, with the […]
A Close Keeper–Nonhuman Animal Distance Does Not Reduce Undesirable Behavior in Contact Yard Goats and Sheep
This study investigated the relation between zookeeper-nonhuman animal distance and the undesirable behavior goats and sheep exhibited toward visitors of Zoo Atlanta’s contact yard. It hypothesized that a close distance between keeper and animal would be associated with a lower rate of undesirable behavior than would a distant keeper-animal distance. The study recorded rate of […]
Cage enrichment and mouse behaviour
Mice housed in standard cages show impaired brain development, abnormal repetitive behaviours (stereotypies) and an anxious behavioural profile, all of which can be lessened by making the cage environment more stimulating. But concerns have been raised that enriched housing might disrupt standardization and so affect the precision and reproducibility of behavioural-test results (for example, see […]
Sensory ecology: Introduction
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Assessment of spontaneously occurring periodic limb movements in sleep in the rat
OBJECTIVE: Periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) are often associated with the restless legs syndrome (RLS). Although the dopaminergic system seems to be involved, the pathophysiology of PLMS and RLS is still obscure. The objective of this study is to explore whether a PLMS-like phenomenon can be observed in rodents in order to elucidate the […]
Cognitive ethology, take three: Fascinating and frustrating questions about animal minds
Review of Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness by Donald R. Griffin
How an animal’s behavioural repertoire changes in response to a changing environment: a stochastic model
We describe a stochastic model that simulates how the behavioural repertoires of animals living in complex and stochastic environments change in response to the changing environment. The model incorporates concepts derived from research in three main areas: (a) cognitive models of the environment, (b) the information-primacy hypothesis, and (c) approach/avoidance behaviours to novel and unfamiliar […]