Dolphin-WET—Development of a Welfare Evaluation Tool for Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under Human Care
Ensuring high standards of animal welfare is not only an ethical duty for zoos and aquariums, but it is also essential to achieve their conservation, education, and research goals. While for some species, animal welfare assessment frameworks are already in place, little has been done for marine animals under human care. Responding to this demand, […]
Comparison of Cortisol Concentrations in Different Matrices in Alpine Ibex (Capra ibex) at the Zoo
The usefulness of blood collection using venipuncture versus kissing bugs or medicinal leeches and the collection of saliva, faeces, hair, urine, and tears for measuring “immunoreactive” C (iC) concentration in Alpine ibexes was verified using commercial enzyme immunoassays. The mean value of serum C was highest in serum collected using venipuncture and lowest in serums […]
Handling and Training of Wild Animals: Evidence and Ethics-Based Approaches and Best Practices in the Modern Zoo
There is an ethical responsibility to provide all animals living in human care with optimal and positive well-being. As animals living in zoos and aquariums frequently interact with their human caregivers as part of their daily care routines, it is both relevant and essential to consider the impact of these interactions on animal well-being. Allowing […]
Visitor effects on zoo-housed Sulawesi crested macaque (Macaca nigra) behaviour: Can signs with ‘watching eyes’ requesting quietness help?
Visiting public can cause changes in the behaviour of zoo-housed primates. These effects, if indicative of stress, can be of welfare concern. However, few options to mitigate visitor effects through modulating visitor behaviour have been explored. Here we evaluated the effects of visitor number and visitor noise level on the behaviour of five UK groups […]
Human–Animal Interactions in Zoos: What Can Compassionate Conservation, Conservation Welfare and Duty of Care Tell Us about the Ethics of Interacting, and Avoiding Unintended Consequences?
Human–animal interactions (HAIs) in zoos can be rewarding for both humans and animals, but can also be fraught with ethical and welfare perils. Contact with animals can be beneficial for all parties involved, and can indeed lead to pro-conservation and respect for nature behaviours being adopted by humans after so-called “profound experiences” of connecting or […]
Assessing preferences of two zoo‐housed Aldabran giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) for three stimuli using a novel preference test
Recent research has uncovered many complex cognitive traits and affective processes in many reptile species, such as the ability to make choices that are rewarding or pleasurable. The investigation herein was initiated after many years of anecdotal reports, and preliminary observations, that the two male Aldabran giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea), Wilbur and Little John, at […]
Dilemmas for Natural Living Concepts of Zoo Animal Welfare
This ethical discourse specifically deals with dilemmas encountered within zoological institutions, namely for the concept of natural living, and a new term-wilding. It is agreed by some that zoos are not ethically wrong in principle, but there are currently some contradictions and ethical concerns for zoos in practice. Natural living is a complicated concept, facing […]
Establishment and Implementation of an Animal Welfare Decision Tree to Evaluate the Welfare of Zoo Animals
During the last few decades, zoos and aquaria have made great improvements in their exhibit designs, feeding routines, social housing conditions, mixed species presentations, and environmental enrichment, as well as in the prevention of infectious and parasitic diseases, to enhance animal welfare. To monitor the effectiveness of all these changes, animal welfare science is needed. […]
Motion Illusions as Environmental Enrichment for Zoo Animals: A Preliminary Investigation on Lions (Panthera leo)
Investigating perceptual and cognitive abilities of zoo animals might help to improve their husbandry and enrich their daily life with new stimuli. Developing new environmental enrichment programs and devices is hence necessary to promote species-specific behaviors that need to be maintained in controlled environments. As far as we are aware, no study has ever tested […]
What Is the Future for Zoos and Aquariums?
Animal welfare concerns have plagued the professional zoo and aquarium field for decades. Societal differences remain concerning the well-being of animals, but it appears a shift is emerging. Scientific studies of animal welfare have dramatically increased, establishing that many previous concerns were not misguided public empathy or anthropomorphism. As a result, both zoo and aquarium […]