Impact of diet and environmental enrichment management in stereotyped behaviours: a case study in tayra Eira barbara
Holistic approaches have been implemented to minimize stress expressed as stereotypies associated with low welfare conditions, which can arise from a range of factors such as frustration, adaptation attempts and neurological problems. Such behaviour was identified in a tayra housed in the facilities of the Santa Cruz Zoo (San Antonio de Tequendama, Colombia), for which […]
Mustelid (Mustelidae) Care Manual
The what, where, and how of mustelids
The causes of the low breeding success of european mink (Mustela lutreola) in captivity
High among-individual variation in mating success often causes problems in conservation breeding programs. This is also the case for critically endangered European mink and may jeopardize the long-term maintenance of the species’ genetic diversity under the European mink EEP Program. In this study, breeding success of wild and captive born European minks at Tallinn Zoological […]
Effects of environmental enrichment and stereotypic behavior on maternal behavior and infant viability in a model carnivore, the American mink (Neovison vison)
In several species, stress compromises maternal behaviors that are important for infant viability (e.g. licking and grooming). Understanding how stress in captivity affects maternal behavior could therefore be beneficial, especially for carnivores in zoos and breeding centers where infant mortality is often high. We used a model carnivore—American mink—to test two hypotheses, namely that maternal […]