General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms 1 Stereotypic route-tracing in captive Carnivora is predicted by species-typical 1 home range sizes and hunting styles 2 3
Abstract 4In captive conditions (e.g. zoos), some Carnivora species typically show negligible 5 stereotypic behaviour (SB) and reproduce successfully, while others tend to 6 reproduce poorly and be very stereotypic. We used comparative methods to identify 7 species-level risk factors for SB and captive infant mortality (CIM). Candidate 8 predictor variables were natural ranging behaviour, territoriality, aspects of natural 9 foraging, wild activity levels, cranial volume, and IUCN Red List status. Previous 10 research had identified naturally long daily travel distances, and being large-bodied 11 and wide-ranging, as SB risk factors. We nearly doubled the size of this original SB 12 database, and then imposed stricter quality controls (e.g. on minimum sample sizes 13 for inclusion). Analysing the resulting 23-species dataset confirmed naturally large 14 ranges and travel distances as risk factors. It also showed that the range size effect: 15 is independent of body mass (although body mass and range size together predicted 16 SB most strongly); is stronger for stereotypic route-tracing (e.g. pacing) than for all 17 SB forms combined; and explains the apparent daily travel distance effect (which 18 vanished when range size was controlled for). Furthermore, a new finding emerged: 19 that naturally long chase distances during hunts also predicted more severe route-20 tracing. Turning to CIM, previous research had also identified naturally long travel 21 distances and large home ranges as risk factors. We failed to replicate this, or to 22 confidently identify any species-level risk factor (despite CIM significantly varying 23 between related species, at least for Canidae and Ursidae
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