Zoo Animal Behaviour

Form in which the animal interacts with the environment and other animals

• Animal behaviour is the sum of all biological systems:

- Hormones

- Physiology

- Perception

- View

- Hearing

- Nervous

- Immune

• The animal uses its own behaviour to maintain homeostasis

• No animal is isolated in the world. It relates to other living beings and with the abiotic environment around it

• It is the result of the interaction between internal stimuli (the animal) and external stimuli from the environment

The male Oryx will fight to mate with females of their group when their testosterone hormone levels are high (Internal stimuli) and when environmental conditions are right - food, temperature, predators etc (External stimuli)

• Internal stimuli

- Testosterone

• External stimuli

- Day length ~ dependant on location on the earth

• Problem

- Day length can affect testosterone production

• Proximal cause - Function: survival value. E.g. anti-predator value

• Final cause - Evolution: reproductive advantage during the long term. E.g. fittest animals survive and pass on their genes

Behaviours are expressed depending on the animals motivation

It is a term that refers to the internal processes that drive behaviour

• Motivational systems

- It is assumed that animals possess motivational systems, such as feeding, reproduction etc

- The animal tries to keep these systems within limits that ensure their well-being (homeostasis)

- Changes in behaviour reflect changes in the internal state of the animal, controlled by homeostatic processes

A small deviation in the homeostasis of an animal results in:

- Appetitive Behaviour (goal seeking) e.g. the hungry animal will seek food

- Consummatory Behaviour e.g. the act of eating the found food

• All animals and plants have only one feature that make them living: -Reproduction

• This, all species have two goals:

1. Reproduction (long term goal)

2. Survival (present purpose)

• Genetic survival

1. More individuals are born than can survive because resources (e.g. food, space) are not infinite

2. Some individuals may solve problems of survival more effectively in comparison with other individuals

3. This ability to resolve problems has a genetic basis- so the solutions are inherited by their offspring

4. Thus, those individuals who have the most efficient solutions have more offspring and their genes will become more common

• No survival of the fittest

• Relaxed selection

• No sexual selection

• Many species of zoo animal have been accidentally selected for behavioural characteristics

- Friendly to humans

- Expression of stereotypic behaviour

- Poor mothering skills

• The Zoos Directive 1999

- Member states shall take measures... to ensure all zoos ...accommodate their animals under conditions which aim to satisfy the biological and conservation requirements of the individual species...

• 4.4 Enclosures should be equipped in accordance with the needs of the animals... [and] encourage normal behaviour patterns and minimise any abnormal behaviour

• 4.5 Animals of social species should normally be maintained in compatible social groups

• Basic needs test - Physiological and psychological needs

• Comparative life test - A life equal to that in the wild

• Five freedoms - Freedom from hunger, thirst and thermal discomfort

• Some species are very difficult to breed in captivity

• Often because the female finds the male ‘unattractive’

• But this male might be genetically important

• Male loris use scent marking to communicate with areas they ‘own’

• The females find attract males who are the owners of good territories

• Thus, before putting a female with an ‘unattractive’ male we can create for him an excellent territory - Counter-marking

1. Reproductive behaviour

2. Social behaviour

3. Maintenance behaviour

4. Agonistic behaviour

5. Feeding behaviour

6. Anti-predatory behaviour

1.1 - Courtship

1.2 - Copulation

1.3 - Infant care

1.4 - Parental care

Any action directed by an individual to a member of their own species. Dependant on:

- Group size

- Duration of life

- Brain size

2.1 - Vigilance

2.2 - Play

Behaviours that maintain the body health

Any interaction between two members of the same species in which one individual is afraid of another. Take into account:

- Fights, quarrels and disputes

- Threats

- Play fighting

- Territorial behaviour

4.1 - Fights/ Ritualised fights

4.2 - Territorial

6.1 - Camouflage

6.2 - Escape

6.3 - Mobbing

6.3 - Build a den

• Feeding = 70-80%

• Sleep/Rest = 8-16%

• Walking = 5-10%

• All other behaviours = ~10%

- Social

- Reproductive

Cows outnumbered bulls

• Loxodonta (African) 4:1

• Elephas (Asian) 3:1

• Most groups contained 7 or fewer

• Mean group size = 4.28

• Some zoos are improving their elephant facilities and increasing herd size

- Chester

- Twycross -> Blackpool

- Koln

- North Carolina

- Pittsburgh

• Many zoos no longer keep elephants

- Edinburgh

• Provide the opportunity to exhibit dusting behaviour

• Provide more opportunities for feeding

• Keep in mixed-sex groups

- Mixed-sex groups allow the possibility of reproductive behaviour

- There is some evidence of the social facilitation of sexual behaviour in juveniles reared in a group containing sexually active adults

• Keep elephants in social groups similar to those found in the wild

• Provide sand or other suitable material to encourage dusting behaviour

• Avoid exposure to cold to reduce the frequency of stereotypic behaviours

• Provide increased access to. food to reduce the frequency of stereotypic behaviour

• Make the management regime less predictable