Impact of Behavioral Opportunities on Aardvark Welfare
Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer) are semi-fossorial, nocturnal, and understudied due to the complications that arise when observing this mammal. The limited amount of time that animal care staff members could view active aardvarks before they head home for the day led to a monitoring effort to see how the aardvarks used their space. This initial monitoring highlighted a relationship between the aardvarks’ amount of time manipulating or sniffing aspects of their environment and welfare indicators. More specifically, more time engaged in these behaviors was related to positive signals in their welfare indicators. However, it was inconclusive if the manipulating and sniffing behaviors drove the positive welfare signs. Based on these findings, researchers at the Center for Zoo and Aquarium Animal Welfare and Ethics pinpointed seven different enrichment items designed to promote one of two enrichment goals: foraging or exploring the habitat. Through the use of overnight video, the researchers were able to observe the four aardvarks housed at the Detroit Zoo and how they interacted with the enrichment provided. All of the enrichment items selected were shown to increase the time spent on the goal behavior. In addition, while foraging items were used the most overall, there were temporal niches for each type of enrichment. Foraging enrichment was used more than exploring enrichment when initially given, but exploring enrichment was used more than foraging enrichment in the early morning hours. An understanding of how and when the aardvarks use their enrichment allows animal care staff members to structure enrichment to best meet the aardvarks’ welfare.