Evidence that displacement activities facilitate behavioural transitions in ring-tailed lemurs
Displacement activities are behavioural patterns defined by their apparent irrelevance to an animal’s ongoing actions. Despite being identified in diverse taxa, their function remains poorly understood. One hypothesis posits that displacement activities facilitate transitions between different behaviours by mediating changes in animals’ motivational state. Under this hypothesis, it is predicted that displace-ment activities will occur […]
The effects of environmental and visitor variables on the behavior of free-ranging ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) in captivity
The effect of the zoo environment on captive animals is an increasingly studied area of zoo research, with visitor effects and exhibit design recognized as two of the factors that can contribute to animal welfare in captivity. It is known that in some situations, visitors may be stressful to zoo-housed primates, and this may be […]