Assessing Visitor Effects on Zoo Animals
Publication Type: |
Book Section |
Year of Publication: |
2024 |
Authors: |
Mark J Learmonth, Paul H Hemsworth |
Publication/Journal: |
Human-Animal Interactions in Zoos: Integrating Science and Practice |
Publisher: |
CABI GB |
Keywords: |
animal welfare, HAI, human-animal interactions, visitor effects |
Abstract:
Visitors have a range of effects on zoo animals, from negative to neutral to positive. These visitor effects are often mixed and are variable between species and even between individual animals within single groups. Many factors can affect human–animal interactions and human–animal relationships in zoos, such as the nature and intensity of the visitor interactions, differences in the physical features of enclosures and/or individual animal characteristics (e.g. past experiences, coping styles, temperament). Visitor interactions are an important component of an animal’s overall experience of its zoo environment and therefore these interactions can have profound effects on the welfare of zoo animals. Zoo animal welfare research is beginning to examine animal–visitor interactions in detail; however, much of this research is non-experimental, and thus drawing conclusions about causal visitor effects is perilous. Further measurement of visitor effects requires more experimental research to be conducted in which the experimenter can manipulate variables to observe animal outcomes.