Enriching Zoo-Housed Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta): Assessing the Influence of Three Types of Environmental Enrichment on Behavior

Abstract

Environmental enrichment is a management tool used to promote positive animal welfare by stimulating species-specific behaviors and providing animals with opportunities to exert choice and control over the environment. Our study aimed to evaluate the combined effect of three enrichment types and environmental/individual factors (i.e., individual age and rank position) on the behavior of six adult Lemur catta hosted at Pistoia Zoo (Italy). We collected data from June to September 2013 using a within-subject experimental design consisting of five conditions: Baseline, Food-based enrichment, Physical enrichment, Auditory enrichment and No enrichment provided. We conducted six 30-minute observation sessions per sampling day (total = 107 h). We recorded the animals’ behavior via 2-minute focal animal sampling per individual per observation period and analyzed data with Generalized Linear Models. The study group only performed normal species-specific behaviors. Enrichments decreased stress-related behavioral patterns, whreas environmental and individual factors influenced the other recorded behaviors. Our study confirmed the usefulness of employing an integrated methodological approach to enrichment assessment for enhancing captive lemur care.

Environmental Enrichment and Its Effect on the Welfare of Two Asian Elephants in Africam Safari Wildlife Conservation Park (Puebla, Mexico)

“…Numerous studies with various species of zoo animals such as lions [21], marmosets [22], chimpanzees [23], orangutan [24], lemurs [25], and African wild dogs [26] have demonstrated the positive impact of environmental enrichment on well-being outcome including physiological responses to stress and boredom.…”

A cost‐effective blood DNA methylation‐based age estimation method in domestic cats, Tsushima leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus) and Panthera species, using targeted bisulphite sequencing and machine learning models

“…Knowing the age of rescued wild individuals would help inform appropriate health care and enrichment activities that maximize the welfare of individuals of different age classes and thereby improve the efficiency of a breeding programme (Caselli et al, 2022;Eskelinen et al, 2015;Hecht, 2021).…”

“…Age estimation in injured or dead wild individuals also helps examine the relationships between age and the causes of injury or mortality (Conroy et al., 2019; Thorel et al., 2020); when certain age groups are found to have particularly high mortality rates, the causes of mortality can be deduced and preventive measures taken. Knowing the age of rescued wild individuals would help inform appropriate health care and enrichment activities that maximize the welfare of individuals of different age classes and thereby improve the efficiency of a breeding programme (Caselli et al., 2022; Eskelinen et al., 2015; Hecht, 2021).…”

Blood DNA methylation-based age estimation in domestic cats, Tsushima leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus), and Panthera species using machine learning models

“…If certain age groups are found to have particularly high mortality rates, the search for the causes of mortality and preventive measures can then be undertaken. For rescued wild individuals, information on age would help inform appropriate health care and enrichment activities to maximize positive welfare experienced by individuals at different age classes, which would also be beneficial for more efficient breeding programs (Caselli et al, 2022;Eskelinen et al, 2015;Hecht, 2021).…”