Investigating the Effect of Enrichment on the Behavior of Zoo-Housed Southern Ground Hornbills
Enrichment is essential for the welfare of many zoo-housed animals, yet the value of enrichment is not well understood for all taxa. As an intelligent, long-lived species, the southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri) is a good model for enrichment research. A pair of southern ground hornbills, housed at Beale Wildlife Park and Gardens, were observed […]
Investigating the Effect of Enrichment on the Behavior of Zoo-Housed Southern Ground Hornbills
Enrichment is essential for the welfare of many zoo-housed animals, yet the value of enrichment is not well understood for all taxa. As an intelligent, long-lived species, the southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus leadbeateri) is a good model for enrichment research. A pair of southern ground hornbills, housed at Beale Wildlife Park and Gardens, were observed […]
Pigs learn what a mirror image represents and use it to obtain information
Mirror usage has been taken to indicate some degree of awareness in animals. Can pigs, Sus scrofa, obtain information from a mirror? When put in a pen with a mirror in it, young pigs made movements while apparently looking at their image. After 5 h spent with a mirror, the pigs were shown a familiar food […]
Do rhesus monkeys recognize themselves in mirrors?
Abstract Self-recognition continues to attract attention because of the evidence of a striking difference between the great apes and humans, on the one hand, and all other primates; the former are capable of self-recognition, whereas no compelling evidence exists for prosimians, monkeys, or lesser apes. This is in spite of numerous attempts to facilitate mirror […]
The effect of mirrors on the behaviour of singly housed male and female laboratory rabbits
It is widely recognised that single housing is detrimental to the welfare of social species. However, some experimental procedures dictate that laboratory animals are housed individually. There is evidence to suggest that, by mimicking social contact, mirrors are beneficial to the welfare of singly housed horses and heifers. However, experiments with singly caged laboratory mice […]
The effects of mirrors on the welfare of caged rabbits
Mirrors can enrich the environment of some social animals kept in isolation. In this study, the effect of mirrors on the behaviour of isolated, or partially isolated, caged rabbits was tested. In a changeover experiment, four treatments were investigated: isolated without mirrors; partially isolated (with a conspecific housed behind a partition) without mirrors; isolated with […]
Does the presence of a human affect the preference of enrichment items in young, isolated pigs?
Pigs may be housed individually in both production and research settings. Gregarious by nature, pigs kept in isolation may show behavioural and physiological signs of stress. In this study we investigated the preference of individually housed pigs, for social and non-social enrichments. Three enrichment items were compared: a mat (MAT), a companion (COM) and a […]