Individual variation in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) repertoires of abnormal behaviour
Abnormal behaviour in captive animals is both pervasive and ambiguous. Although individual differences are central to the field of animal welfare, studies on abnormal behaviour predominantly employ quantitative, population-level approaches. For example, whereas previous studies on chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) abnormal behaviour have reported significant variation between groups or individuals in the quantity (eg frequency and […]
Impacts of dietary modifications on the behaviour of captive western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)
Behavioural profiles of captive and wild Gorilla gorilla gorilla have been shown to differ greatly, with captive gorillas moving and foraging much less than their wild counterparts and often experiencing high levels of obesity and cardiovascular disease. Captive gorillas are typically fed an energy dense diet and housed in relatively small enclosures compared to wild […]
A case of non-scaling in mammalian physiology? Body size, digestive capacity, food intake, and ingesta passage in mammalian herbivores☆
As gut capacity is assumed to scale linearly to body mass (BM), and dry matter intake (DMI) to metabolic body weight (BM0.75), it has been proposed that ingesta mean retention time (MRT) should scale to BM0.25 in herbivorous mammals. We test these assumptions with the most comprehensive literature data collations (n=74 species for gut capacity, […]
Dyadic interactions of infant lowland gorillas in an outdoor exhibit compared to an indoor holding area
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.1430130306.abs The behavior of two lowland gorilla mother-infant pairs living in a social group at Zoo Atlanta was compared in an indoor holding area vs. an outdoor exhibit. Focal animal data were collected for each pair during 30-min observation sessions over 24 days, alternating between indoors and outdoors. A variety of individual and social […]
The relationship between forage material and levels of coprophagy in captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.1430110503.abs Although coprophagy is practiced in the wild by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), it occurs more frequently and under more varied circumstances in captivity. This study was designed to determine if different forage materials and amount of residual undigested grain particles found in the feces might cause an increase in coprophagous behavior in those animals […]
Digestive physiology of the plains viscacha (Lagostomus maximus): A large herbivorous hystricomorph rodent
Plains viscachas (Lagostomus maximus) are large South American, fossorial rodents susceptible to diabetic cataracts. Various aspects of their digestive physiology were studied in three different experiments with nine male and seven female adult animals and six different diets (total n of feeding trials = 35). Viscachas achieved mean retention times of 23–31 hr, which is of a magnitude […]
Reconsidering coprophagy as an indicator of negative welfare for captive chimpanzees
For captive chimpanzees, ‘abnormal’ behaviours include behaviours observed only in captivity (i.e. species-atypical behaviours) and those that are performed at higher rates in captivity compared to in the wild. Both types are used as metrics for evaluating captive primates’ welfare. However, categorizing all abnormal behaviours together ignores variation in their etiologies, which limits our ability […]