Quantifying animals’ perception of environmental predictability using anticipatory behavior
Animals under human care often experience predictable daily husbandry events, which can promote the development of anticipatory behavior. Previous research suggests even short delays in the arrival of a predictable, desired outcome can lead to negative welfare outcomes for animals. As such, providing reliable information to animals regarding the onset of important events may be […]
Quantifying animals’ perception of environmental predictability using anticipatory behavior
Animals under human care often experience predictable daily husbandry events, which can promote the development of anticipatory behavior. Previous research suggests even short delays in the arrival of a predictable, desired outcome can lead to negative welfare outcomes for animals. As such, providing reliable information to animals regarding the onset of important events may be […]
A Quantitative Approach for Using Anticipatory Behavior as a Graded Welfare Assessment
To perform quick assessments, welfare practitioners may focus on specific behavioral indicators of welfare, which can lead to challenges in interpretation. Anticipatory behavior has been suggested as a potentially graded indicator of well-being in animals. However, there are difficulties in assessing variations in this class of behavior quantitatively. Here, we propose an analytical approach for […]
Appetitive Search Behaviors and Stereotypies in Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus)
Stereotypies in captive animals have been defined as repetitive, largely invariant patterns of behavior that serve no obvious goal or function. Stereotypies are commonly attributed to boredom or stress and are typically treated by enriching captivity with distracting, appealing stimuli. These stimuli often include food presented at times other than regular feedings, and as a […]
Assessing and Enhancing the Welfare of Animals with Equivocal and Reliable Cues
The actions of human caretakers strongly influence animals living under human care. Here, we consider how intentional and unintentional signals provided by caretakers can inform our assessment of animals’ well-being as well as help to support it. Our aim is to assist in further developing techniques to learn animals’ affective state from their behavior and […]
Stereotypies in polar bears
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.1430100209.abs The spatial and temporal patterns of stereotypies in three captive polar bears (Ursus maritimus) were analysed. There was considerable variation in the time budgets of the three animals: stereotypies made up 16.0%, 24.4 %, and 76.5 % of the observation time between 8.00 A.M. and 4.00 P.M. Stereotyped walking or swimming bouts were […]
Spontaneous Use of Magnitude Discrimination andOrdination by the Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)
The ability to discriminate quantity is descriptive of general cognitive ability. In this study, the authors presented 2 orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) with a quantity judgment task. Each trial consisted of 2 choices, ranging from 1 to 6 food items in each. The orangutan chose 1 of the quantities, which was removed, and the remaining array […]
Implementing unpredictability in feeding enrichment for Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanus)
Bears in the wild spend large proportions of time in foraging activities. In zoos their time budgets differ markedly from those of their wild counterparts. Feeding enrichment has been documented to increase foraging behavior and to reduce stereotypies. But in general these procedures have no long-term effects and result in habituation. As can be expected […]