Effects of Visitor Presence and Crowd Size on Zoo-Housed Red Kangaroos (Macropus Rufus) During and After a COVID-19 Closure

Abstract

Macropods, particularly kangaroos and wallabies, are common species included in walk-through habitats that put them in close proximity to zoo visitors. However, there has been little research into how visitor presence and density impact the welfare of these individuals. We monitored the behavior and space use of fifteen red kangaroos (Macropus rufus) for a total of ten weeks during and after a nearly three-month zoo closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings revealed potential visitor effects, evidenced by more time spent in social proximity, greater inactivity, and more restricted space use after the zoo reopened. Although temperature and weather likely played a role in at least some of these behavioral changes, social proximity and space use changed with crowd size in a manner consistent with our zoo status (i.e., open or closed) results. Additionally, time spent feeding was significantly related to crowd size but not zoo status, such that the kangaroos spent more time feeding when there were no visitors in the habitat. These findings suggest that visitor effects explain these behavioral changes better than seasonal confounds. We also noted several individual differences in response to visitor presence and crowd size, highlighting the importance of evaluating behavioral responses to visitors on an individual basis.

The Impact of COVID-19 Zoo Closures on Behavioural and Physiological Parameters of Welfare in Primates

“…Anecdotal reports from zoological facilities during COVID-19 lockdown periods highlighted the fact that primates were looking out for keepers [55], and so these individuals could have been responding to the increased stimulation when visitors returned. It is, however, important to bear in mind that the time frame over which these data were captured was relatively short, so it is possible that the gorillas, as has been reported in other species [26,56], were taking longer than the bonobos or chimpanzees to rehabituate to zoo visitors when facilities reopened.…”

“…Avoidance behaviours have been known to increase in response to increased visitor number and noise levels at enclosures for orangutans [61], and a number of studies have reported gorillas turning their back on enclosure windows (another behaviour indicative of public avoidance) in relation to increased visitor presence [62,63]. Strategic use of enclosures to avoid human-animal interactions has also been reported in animals in petting zoos [63], and changes in enclosure usage/visibility of animals following periods of closure during the COVID-19 pandemic have also been reported in red kangaroos [26], Grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi) [56], and tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) [64]. The short-term behavioural modification in terms of altered space use may therefore represent a coping mechanism that the gorillas in this study employed when the zoo was open to the public.…”

“…A mixed behavioural response has been observed across species: slender-tailed meerkats (Suricata suricatta) engaged in more alert behaviour and fewer positive social interactions during closures than open periods [24] and giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis tippelskirchi) reduced vigilance when visitors returned to zoos following the closure period [25]. Chinese goral (Nemorhaedus griseus) engaged in more environmental interactions when the zoo was closed to the public, red kangaroos (Macropus rufus) increased inactivity, spent more time in proximity to one another, and reduced their space use when the zoo reopened [26], and amphibians (common toad, Bufo bufo; common frog, Rana temporaria; smooth newt, Lissotriton vulgaris; pool frog, Pelophylax lessonae; golden mantilla, Mantella aurantiaca; golden poison dart frog, Phyllobates terribilis) were less visible when zoo visitors returned [27]. Behavioural indifference was reported in Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) [11] and flamingos (Phoenicopterus chilensis) when the zoos opened [28].…”

Is Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) Wounding Frequency Affected by the Presence Versus Absence of Visitors? A Multi-Institutional Study

“…Most visitor-based researchers have investigated the effects of crowd size [11,14,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32], length of time at the enclosure [23,29,30,33], zoo attendance [12,17,28,[34][35][36][37][38][39], visitor attendance days [8,9,40,41], observer effects [42], and visitor attendance times [16] on animal behavior. Additionally, visitor behavior [6,20,23,29,31,33,[43][44][45], including noise levels [6,11,18,…”

“…The initial wave of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020 forced zoos to close for the first prolonged period of time in the United States (U.S.) and globally. Since then, several visitor effect studies of various zoo-housed taxa have been published due to the unique opportunity these closures provided [17,[25][26][27][49][50][51][52][53]. Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) showed no behavioral changes between the open and closed conditions, while Chilean flamingos (P. chilensis) showed a decrease in three out of eight observed behaviors (activity, movement, and feeding) when the zoo reopened; however, these changes were partially attributed to weather [27].…”