Food preferences and nutrient composition in captive Southern brown howler monkeys, Alouatta guariba clamitans
Studies of food preferences in captive primates have so far mainly been restricted to frugivorous species. It was therefore the aim of the present study to assess the occurrence of spontaneous food preferences in a mainly folivorous primate, the captive Southern brown howler monkey, and to analyze whether these preferences correlate with nutrient composition. Using […]
Catcalls: exotic cats discriminate the voices of familiar caregivers
BACKGROUND: The ability to differentiate familiar from unfamiliar humans has been considered a product of domestication or early experience. Few studies have focused on voice recognition in Felidae despite the fact that this family presents the rare opportunity to compare domesticated species to their wild counterparts and to examine the role of human rearing. METHODS: […]
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 […]
The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including Human–Animal Interactions in Assessments of Animal Welfare
Throughout its 25-year history, the Five Domains Model for animal welfare assessment has been regularly updated to include at each stage the latest authenticated developments in animal welfare science thinking. The domains of the most up-to-date Model described here are: 1 Nutrition, 2 Physical Environment, 3 Health, 4 Behavioural Interactions and 5 Mental State. The […]
Schedule-Induced Aggression in Humans and Animals: A Comparative Parametric Review
Studies of animal and human aggression induced by schedules of reinforcement are reviewed. Parameters reviewed include: schedules, characteristics of induced aggression, subject variables, target variables, and the control or modification of schedule-induced aggression. With the exception of temporal locus of schedule-induced attack, the parameters identified with animal subjects are remarkably similar to those identified with […]
Who is happy?
A flood of new studies explores people’s subjective well-being (SWB). Frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect, and a global sense of satisfaction with life define high SWB. These studies reveal that happiness and life satisfaction are similarly available to the young and the old, women and men, blacks and whites, the rich and the working-class. […]
Fluctuating asymmetry as an animal welfare indicator — A review of methodology and validity
It has been suggested that fluctuating asymmetry (FA) reflects an animal’s ability to cope with the sum of challenges during its growing period and, thus, is a potential welfare indicator. In this review we investigate the evidence of associations between FA and other welfare indicators measured at the level of the individual and of effects […]
Spontaneous discrimination of natural stimuli by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Six chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes) were presented with pairs of color photographic images of 5 different categories of animals (cat, chimp, gorilla, tiger, fish). The subjects responded to each pair using symbols for “same” and “different.” Both within- and between-category discriminations were tested, and all chimpanzees classified the image pairs in accordance with the 5 […]
Zoo Animals and Their Human Audiences: What is the Visitor Effect?
The presence of human visitors has been shown to affect the behaviour of several different mammalian species in a number of different zoos, but the behavioural changes observed are not always consistent with a simple ‘stressful influence’ explanation. Data for non-primate species are too sparse to draw meaningful conclusions; but for primates, the evidence reviewed […]
Dogs (Canis familiaris) learn from their owners via observation in a manipulation task
Eighty-seven pet dogs (Canis familiaris) were involved in an experiment in which they had to solve a task to obtain a ball. After witnessing a full demonstration by their owner (10 times pushing the handle of the box, which released a ball), most dogs preferred to touch the handle sooner and more frequently in comparison […]