Zoo visitor effect on mammal behaviour: Does noise matter?
The zoo visitor effect is the change in animal behaviour and physiology in response to the presence of a viewing public. It is thought to result from, amongst other things, visitor generated sound (i.e., noise), but this hypothesis has never been explicitly tested. We tested this hypothesis through observations on the behaviour and enclosure use […]
Social Reward Behaviour in Two Groups of European Grey Wolves (Canis lupus lupus)—A Case Study
Prosociality occurs in many species and is likely to be a crucial factor for the survival of group-living animals. Social feedback is an important mechanism for the coordination of group decisions. Since group-living animals with specific personality axes, i.e., boldness, are known to provide certain benefits for their group, bold actions might receive more prosocial […]
Zoo visitor effect on mammal behaviour: Does noise matter?
The zoo visitor effect is the change in animal behaviour and physiology in response to the presence of a viewing public. It is thought to result from, amongst other things, visitor generated sound (i.e., noise), but this hypothesis has never been explicitly tested. We tested this hypothesis through observations on the behaviour and enclosure use […]
Bird-mammal associations in forest openings of northern Congo (Brazzaville)
Resident and migrant birds and several mammal species utilize natural forest openings to exploit foraging opportunities that are otherwise rare or absent in the dense forest of equatorial Africa. Certain bird species exhibit protocooperative and commensal relationships with these mammals. In a large marshy opening, five species of birds exploited the actions of large terrestrial […]
Mammal trapping: a review of animal welfare standards of killing and restraining traps
Millions of wild mammals are trapped annually for fur, pest control and wildlife management. Ensuring the welfare of trapped individuals can only be achieved by trapping methods that meet accepted standards of animal welfare. At the international level, the assessment of mechanical properties of killing and restraining traps is set out in two documents published […]
The Effect of Zoo Visitors on the Behaviour and Welfare of Zoo Mammals
There is evidence that the presence of the visiting public affects the behaviour of zoo-housed mammals. Understanding the effect of visitors is important in improving animal welfare, achieving zoo conservation goals, increasing visitor education/entertainment, and facilitating interpretation of data on zoo animal biology. A series of studies and experiments focusing on the effect of zoo […]
The potential for microchip-automated technology to improve enrichment practices
Abstract The greatest limitation involved with providing enrichment and evaluating its effects on captive mammals is a lack of available staff time [Hoy et al., 2009]. One method to overcome this is through the use of automated husbandry systems to dispense enrichment to individual animals by using implantable radio frequency microchips. An international multi-institutional survey […]
Age-specific fecundity of mammalian populations: A test of three mathematical models
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.10029.abs Empirical age-specific fecundity distributions are often based on small samples and hence include high levels of sampling error, particularly at the older ages. One solution to this problem is to smooth the distributions using appropriate models. The aim of this article is to compare the utility of three models for smoothing and/or graduating […]
Perspectives on mammalian conservation
A review of Priorities for the Conservation of Mammalian Diversity: Has the Panda Had Its Day?
Birth sex ratio in captive mammals: Patterns, biases, and the implications for management and conservation
Abstract 10.1002/(SICI)1098-2361(2000)19:13.3.CO;2-M Sex allocation theory predicts that a female should produce the offspring of the sex that most increases her own fitness. For polygynous species, this means that females in superior condition should bias offspring production toward the sex with greater variation in lifetime reproductive success, which is typically males. Captive mammal populations are generally […]