INACTIVITY AT NIGHT: A CASE STUDY OF THE NOCTURNAL BEHAVIORS OF TWO CAPTIVE Panthera onca (FELIDAE) SPECIMENS

Abstract

Inactivity is a common daytime behavior expressed by wild cats in zoos. It is not clear whether this inactivity is due to the constraints of the captive environment or is a result of a more natural behavior by these animals. Therefore, this work evaluated the behavior of two Panthera oncacaptive specimens, including their inactivity, during the evening/night period. The jaguars were filmed individually in different days, starting at 5:30 pm and finishing between 7:00 pm and 1:30 am, including non-feeding and feeding days. Regardless of whether they were fed or not, both jaguars expressed a significant rate of inactivity. In addition, when fed, one of the jaguars increased its movements and active behaviors, although its inactivity remained high, while the other jaguar further reduced the expression of such behaviors. Therefore, this work concludes that these jaguars were just as inactive during the evening/night period as they were during daytime. Excessive inactivity might be regarded as a negative behavior; with its highest expression being an effect of the captive environment, which might compromise the welfare of the assessed jaguars and possibly of other wild cats. In addition, since the behavioral expression varied between the studied jaguars, depending on the feeding or non-feeding status, we recommend that futures studies should taking into account the individual variations, especially when there are differences in age, health, and management conditions between the specimens.

Assessing the impact of environmental enrichment on behavior in understudied armadillo species: A case study

“…Observing these behaviors may indicate positive welfare states (Browning, 2019), because it means the individual animal can experience satiation. However, the zoo environment may predispose captive species to higher levels of inactivity when compared to the wild due to restrictions on space and/or the predictability of daily husbandry (i.e., set feeding times) that result in specific foraging opportunities (Boccacino et al, 2020). Behavioral constraints caused by husbandry routine and enclosure size can be mitigated by providing environmental enrichment (EE); consequently, the aim of this paper was to evaluate the effect of EE on the behavior of an understudied species in a zoo.…”

“…Observing these behaviors may indicate positive welfare states (Browning, 2019), because it means the individual animal can experience satiation. However, the zoo environment may predispose captive species to higher levels of inactivity when compared to the wild due to restrictions on space and/or the predictability of daily husbandry (i.e., set feeding times) that result in specific foraging opportunities (Boccacino et al, 2020).…”