Zoo Playgrounds: A Source of Enrichment or Stress for a Group of Nearby Cockatoos? A Case Study

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that in some circumstances, zoo visitors may be aversive stimuli to nonhuman animals housed in zoos. Yet, most previous research has focused on primates with little attention given to numerous other species who are housed in zoos. The focus animal of this project was the cockatoo, a species who has received minimal attention in zoo-based research. Furthermore, although the influence of the zoo setting has become increasingly important in visitor effect studies, this is the 1st study to quantify the effect of activity at a children's playground on zoo animals. There was an investigation on the effect of a zoo playground on the behavior of citron-crested and Moluccan cockatoos (Cacatua sulphurea citrinocristata and Cacatua moluccensis), as well as the effect of children standing in front of the birds' aviaries. The results showed that in some circumstances, the Moluccan cockatoos retreated from visitors, while the citron-crested cockatoos did not retreat from visitors and became more social in the presence of visitors. These findings highlight the importance of careful selection of species and individual animals to be housed near zoo playgrounds.

The effects of environmental and visitor variables on the behavior of free‐ranging ring‐tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) in captivity

“…We found that high daily total visitor numbers were associated with a slight decrease in behavioral diversity level, whereas there was almost no association between instantaneous behavioral diversity level and crowd size. This offers tentative evidence that lemurs are perhaps stimulated or not bothered by intermittent large groups, but when there are continual large groups of visitors (high daily totals), behavioral diversity is reduced, which could indicate an upper limit of tolerance for visitors, which has been found in some captive bird species (Collins & Marples, 2015;Nimon & Dalziel, 1992).…”

“…A recurring finding from visitor effect studies, which extends to various taxonomic groups, is that the ability to retreat from visitors lessens visitor induced stress (Carlstead & Shepherdson, ; Collins & Marples, ; Hosey, ). Thus, exhibit design is of significant importance when considering visitor effects (Sherwen, Hemsworth, Butler, Fanson, & Magrath, ).…”

Effects of visitor numbers on captive European red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and impacts on visitor experience

“…In some cases, visitor presence can initiate aggressive or stereotypical patterns of animal behavior and thus be a stressor (e.g., Fernandez, Tamborski, Pickens, & Timberlake, ; Hosey, , ), while at other times they can stimulate cognition and social interaction and thus effectively act as a form of enrichment (e.g., Chamove, Hosey, & Schaetzel, ; Davey, ; Owen ); there are also situations where visitor presence has no discernible effect on behavior (Jones, McGregor, Farmer, & Baker, ; Margulis, Hoyos, & Anderson, ). Effects can vary by species (Collins & Marples, ), time of day (Maia et al, ) and existing levels of enrichment within the enclosure (Carder & Semple, ). The visitor effect can thus be very situation specific such that the findings of one study will not necessarily be directly transferable to other situations or species.…”

Conducting Behavioural Research in the Zoo: A Guide to Ten Important Methods, Concepts and Theories

“…We hope that this paper informs students, researchers and zoo professionals about the array of observational methods available and the suitability of those methods for the research project being planned. Although zoo behavioural research is often formed of small N case studies [89,108], these still yield useful, applicable insights into zoo animal husbandry and management; telling researchers about natural history-based husbandry [109] and informing on populationspecific responses to stressors in the zoo [110], for example. Behavioural data give an important insight into an individual's responses to the environment, allowing easily gained inferences on welfare state, mental and physical health, reproductive potential and growth and development.…”