New food provision strategy for a colony of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus): effects on social hierarchy?

Abstract

A previous study on lion-tailed macaques (Macaca silenus) revealed that providing whole rather than chopped food increased the dietary diversity of all individuals and the time spent feeding [7]. Another study on Sulawesi crested black macaques (Macaca nigra) showed that whole food provision had no significant effect on feeding modalities and time and agonistic behaviours. However, whole food provision allowed subordinate macaques to obtain more food [4]. Similar positive effects on sociality have been found in siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus) [5] and bonobos (Pan paniscus) [8]. Therefore, despite being widespread among zoos, chopping food seems not to be an optimal strategy [2,5,7].The aim of this study is to assess the effects of different food provision forms (chopped vs whole food) on individual and social behaviour of a colony of zoo Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) hosted in Parco Natura Viva (Italy). In particular, the study aims at evaluating the impact of food provision form on the macaque welfare, comparing the behaviour of the animals in the presence of chopped rather than whole fruit and vegetable. Moreover, we aim at establishing AbstractIn several zoological institutions, food is chopped into small pieces even though animals are skilled in processing much larger or even whole food items. Food chopping is usually aimed at enabling all individuals in a group to obtain enough food, preventing wastage, encouraging foraging behaviour, avoiding aggression during feeding. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of different food provision forms (chopped vs whole food) on the behaviour and social hierarchy of a colony of zoo Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) hosted in Parco Natura Viva (Italy). The study was made of three conditions: the baseline-chopped food was provided; the Two Whole Food condition-two whole fruits and two whole vegetables per subject were provided; the One Whole Food condition-one whole fruit and one whole vegetable per subject were provided. For each condition, two daily 10-minute sessions per subject were run. Continuous focal animal sampling method was used to collect individual and social behaviours to assess the welfare of the Barbary macaques in the three different conditions. Moreover, for each condition, the dominance hierarchy was evaluated using the Clutton-Brock index (CBI) to assess the effects of different food provision forms on the social relationships between individuals. According to our results, macaques spent more time feeding in the baseline than in both the TWF and OWF condition. In addition, affiliative behaviours, particularly grooming, were performed more in the whole food condition than in the baseline. Within females, the hierarchy was not significantly affected by different food presentations and a decrease of aggressive behaviour in a whole food condition was found. Therefore, presenting whole food seemed to have a positive effect on the welfare of this colony, promoting natural behaviour and social cohesion. The presence of individual and socia...

Is There a “Right” Side of Communicating Friendship? Lateralization of Social Interactions in Zoo Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

“…Proximity was intended as the macaque being near conspecifics, at one meter or less ( Figure 1 ). Affiliative contacts included positive physical interactions with conspecifics that could be biased on one side of the body, specifically grooming and embraces [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. We recorded grooming when a macaque was on one side of another individual and manipulated its fur with hands or mouth; an embrace was recorded when a macaque wrapped an arm around the body of another individual.…”

Challenges and Directions in Zoo and Aquarium Food Presentation Research: A Review

“…For primates, specifically macaques (Macaca spp. ), the literature suggests that, when whole food items are provided, group aggression is reduced [10] while both food consumption [9,21] and allogrooming [10] increase. However, one paper identified a positive correlation between food particle size and aggression [14].…”

“…Reduced aggression was seen in primates and coatis (Nasua nasua) (except in one study) when given whole food items [9,10,15,21]. This seems counterintuitive as larger food items should be of greater value [14].…”

“…A well-presented diet may allow animals to have opportunities to express aspects of their natural behavior and to engage in rewarding activity [7,8]. The impact of zoo food presentation styles has already been explored by some authors [9,10]. However, there are opportunities to further diversify the presentation styles and species being investigated.…”

“…It is well known that food preparation and presentation can have an impact on animal behavior [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, other aspects of food presentation have not been considered in detail in the zoological setting.…”