A Reexamination of the Relationship between Training Practices and Welfare in the Management of Ambassador Animals
There is an ethical need to document and develop best practices for meeting ambassador animals’ welfare needs within the context of meeting zoo and aquarium program objectives. This is because ambassador animals experience direct and frequent contact with humans. This paper rigorously synthesizes behavioral research and theory, contemporary practices, and personal experiences to offer key […]
Choice, control, and animal welfare: definitions and essential inquiries to advance animal welfare science
The ways in which humans can support good welfare for animals in their care is an ongoing subject of debate: some place emphasis on the animals’ physical health; others, on animals’ ability to live “natural lives”; and others on animals’ affective states or psychological wellbeing. Recently, there has been an increase in interest in how […]
Silence is Golden: Auditory Preferences in Zoo-housed Gorillas
Enrichment is presented to improve the welfare of captive animals but sound is frequently presented with the assumption that it is enriching without assessing individuals’ preferences. Typically, presented sounds are unnatural and animals are unable to choose which sounds they can listen to or escape them. We examined preferences of three zoo-housed gorillas for six […]
Preference and Motivation Tests for Body Tactile Stimulation in Fish
We tested whether territorial fish (Nile tilapia) perceive body tactile stimulation as a positive or negative resource. Individual male fish were placed for eight days in an aquarium containing a rectangular PVC frame, which was filled with vertical plastic sticks sided with silicone bristles in the middle of the tank. Fish passing this device received […]
Choice, Control and Computers: Empowering Wildlife in Human Care
The purpose of this perspective paper and technology overview is to encourage collaboration between designers and animal carers in zoological institutions, sanctuaries, research facilities, and in soft-release scenarios for the benefit of all stakeholders, including animals, carers, managers, researchers, and visitors. We discuss the evolution of animal-centered technology (ACT), including more recent animal-centered computing to […]
Facilitating the social behaviour of bull elephants in zoos
In the wild, bull elephants socialize with conspecifics of all ages and both sexes, and young bulls develop social bonds with other elephants which will be sustained throughout their lives. Significant progress has been made towards providing an environment that facilitates social behaviour and multi-generational family structure for female elephants in zoos. However, it is […]
Individual and environmental risk factors associated with fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in zoo-housed Asian and African elephants
A recent large-scale welfare study in North America involving 106 Asian (Elephas maximus) and 131 African (Loxodonta africana) elephants at 64 accredited facilities identified links (i.e., risk factors) between zoo environmental factors and a number of welfare outcomes (stereotypic behavior, ovarian acyclicity, hyperprolactinemia, walking and recumbence, body condition, health status, serum cortisol). For this population […]
Effects of Pool Size on Free-Choice Selections by Atlantic Bottlenosed Dolphins at One Zoo Facility
Dolphin pool design often derives from the concept that cetaceans are ocean based and ipso facto should live in open, deep, watery spaces. This emotionally appealing rationale is not data driven. Researchers report that in the wild, some populations of Atlantic bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) reside in shallower areas (approximately 2 m deep) and move […]
Training Nonhuman Primates to Cooperate With Scientific Procedures n Applied Biomedical Research
This report provides a brief overview of aspects of training nonhuman primates who have been, and continue to be, used in this laboratory. The research context involves applied behavioral studies in which animals are trained to perform complex operant behavioral sequences, often in their homecage environment. In such studies, animals have freedom to choose whether […]
Effects of Ratio Reinforcement Schedules on Choice Behavior
Choice behavior under a concurrent VR-FR schedule of reinforcement was investigated in two experiments to test a molar theory of maximization. Hunger-motivated albino rats pressed two bars, one on an FR10 and the other on a VR10 schedule, for a food reward. With the total number of experiences with each bar equated and interalternative switching […]