Behaviour-Based Husbandry—A Holistic Approach to the Management of Abnormal Repetitive Behaviors

Abstract

Simple SummaryThis paper outlines some of the barriers to implementing improved zoo animal welfare in practice, and proposes a new strategy for the development of behavioral husbandry routines focused on the management and mitigation of abnormal repetitive behaviors. Focusing on enhancing zoo animal welfare by integrating aspects of ecology, ethology and clinical animal behavior into a practical and comprehensive approach to behavior-based husbandry.AbstractThe field of zoo animal welfare science has developed significantly over recent years. However despite this progress in terms of scientific research, globally, zoo animals still face many welfare challenges. Recently, animal welfare frameworks such as the five domains or five needs have been developed and suggested to improve the welfare of zoo animals, but without practical guidance, such tools may remain abstract from the daily experience of zoo animals. Similarly specific practical strategies such as those for enrichment development exist, but their lack of holistic integration with other aspects of animal husbandry and behavioral medicine means that overall, good zoo animal welfare may still be lacking. This paper outlines some of the barriers to implementing improved zoo animal welfare in practice, and proposes a new strategy for the development of behavioral husbandry routines focused on the management and mitigation of abnormal repetitive behaviors. Focusing on enhancing zoo animal welfare by integrating aspects of ecology, ethology and clinical animal behavior into a practical and comprehensive approach to behavior-based husbandry.

A Review of Welfare Assessment Methods in Reptiles, and Preliminary Application of the Welfare Quality® Protocol to the Pygmy Blue-Tongue Skink, Tiliqua adelaidensis, Using Animal-Based Measures

“…The geckos responded predominantly to thermal and feeding enrichment, perhaps because these address the behavioral needs of this species [24]. This agrees with the idea that effective enrichment strategies should be based on a motivation, rather than being designed to ‘distract’ or ‘entertain’ the animal, as a random novelty might achieve [25]. This result also supports the idea that reptiles respond to enrichment like carnivorous mammals: that they benefit from increased behavioral opportunities.…”

“…It is essential to consider the species-specific behavior expressed by an individual to use behavioral indicators of welfare effectively. Behavior alone is not directly indicative of affective state but provides insight into how an animal feels [25]. Exploratory behavior, affiliative behavior, vocalizations, facial expressions, anticipatory behavior and play have all been used for assessment and monitoring of positive emotion and have been investigated in reptiles to varying extents [14,18].…”

“…Mehrkam & Dorey (2015) found that zoo keeper predictions of the most-preferred enrichments for animals in their care across several different taxonomic groups was the least accurate (5.8%) for reptiles [30]. Despite this, due to their knowledge, experience, and time spent with the animals they were evaluating, keepers should be best placed to recognize abnormal behavior, develop enrichment strategies, and assess the welfare of animals under their care [25]. Consequently, they must be equipped with the tools to formally perform these activities successfully.…”

Editorial: The Science and Practice of Captive Animal Welfare

“…Browning and Maple provide a methodology to measure complex space, acknowledging that there more sophisticated measurements are available to designers. Beyond the physical space, various forms of enrichment that are either permanently or temporarily added to environment have been found to have a substantial influence on animal welfare (Bacon, 2018 ). Fernandez and Timberlake offer an overview of how to select enrichment and evaluate its effectiveness in lemurs and find that conducting a preference assessment may be a fairly simple method for identifying food items to be used with enrichment devices.…”

Evaluation of the Impact of Behavioral Opportunities on Four Zoo-Housed Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer)

“…In the past, enrichment was mainly item based and focused on five to eight broad categories (e.g., feeding, tactile, olfactory) with the goal of providing enrichment from every category [8,9]. Although an item-based system of enrichment provides animals with events of varying degrees of stimulation, there can be a lack of understanding as to whether these events are functionally significant to the animal in question [10,11]. Mellen and MacPhee [12] proposed that zoos and aquariums should instead develop goal-based enrichment frameworks that promote species-appropriate behaviors and mitigate undesirable behaviors with the objective of improving an animal's welfare.…”