A Guide to Managing Zoo Animal Welfare delivers a step-by-step guide to behavioral assessment approaches, techniques, and tools for animal welfare with an emphasis on animals living in zoos and aquaria. The authors develop a unique “balance-based” approach that can be used to assess and enhance the welfare of a diverse range of species. Backed by extensive scientific literature, this book also provides foundational context to help readers to understand why the authors give these recommendations and guidelines.
This book is divided into three sections. Section I details background concepts and goals, discussing the animal mind through neuroscience, psychology, and behavior, even questioning wild animal behavior’s validity as a template for captive animal behavior. Section II details the core behavioral Needs of animals, investigating, acquiring rewards, and exerting control. Section III explains how to practically assess if animals’ Needs are met and address deficiencies, covering topics like food, space, and social rewards and methods to make environments dynamic.
A Guide to Managing Zoo Animal Welfare includes information on: - Proximate and ultimate reasoning for the existence of each of the Needs- Welfare benefits of meeting the Needs, including positive affect, maintaining homeostasis, passing on genes, and learning through reinforcement- The highly variable personalities of individual animals and different animal species, as well as why personality is an important facet of animal welfare- A guide for assessing animal welfare using the Three Needs model
Presenting highly unique insight and a novel approach, A Guide to Managing Zoo Animal Welfare is an essential learning resource for professional animal behaviorists in zoos and aquaria, researchers in animal behavior and animal welfare, and students in veterinary sciences and zoology programs of study.
Table of Contents
1 Background Concepts and Goals 1
Keeping Animals 1
Affective Neuroscience 5
Motivation Psychology 6
Animal Behavior 6
References 8
2 Is Wild Animal Behavior a Proper Template for Captive Animal Behavior? 11
References 18
3 Investigating 19
Proximate Versus Ultimate Drivers of Behavior -A Note on Terminology 19
Investigation 22
Why Investigate? 22
Proximate Drivers of Investigation 25
Animals Under Human Care Retain Their Drive for Understanding 27
References 34
4 Acquiring Reward 37
Why Acquire Rewards? 38
Proximate Drivers of Reward Acquisition 40
Acquiring Rewards Supports Welfare of Animals in Human Care 41
References 46
5 Exerting Control 51
Why Exert Control? 52
Proximate Drivers of Exerting Control 53
Opportunities to Exert Control for Supporting Well-Being in Captive Animals 56
References 60
6 Balance: Good Welfare Through Psychological Resilience 63
References 69
7 Animal Personality: For Every Animal, All Needs Are Important, but They Are Not Equal 73
References 77
8 What It Looks Like When the Needs Are Met and Not Met 79
Meeting Needs 79
References 84
9 Assessment. Asking Animals, “Are Your Needs Met?” 85
The Balance Sheet Approach Using Direct Observation 86
Developing Observation Methods 87
Developing a List of Behaviors to Look for 90
Assessing the Data 91
The Balance Sheet Approach - Using Caretaker Interviews 95
Summarizing the Interview 99
Direct Tests and Probes for Mood-Like State 101
Anticipatory Behavior 101
Cognitive Bias 103
Novel Objects 104
Assessing the Opportunities 105
References 106
10 A Practitioner’s Guide to Meeting the Needs 109
Supporting Investigation 110
Supporting the Acquisition of Rewards 117
Supporting Exerting Control 118
Availability of Opportunities 122
Relevance of Opportunities 124
Ability to Engage 125
Surrogate Behaviors, Surrogate Behavioral Sequences, and Cross-Domain Carryover of Opportunity Effects 126
References 128
11 Exceptional Cases: Geriatric, Chronically and Acutely Ill, and Injured Animals 133
Does the Animal Experience Themself as Physically Healthy? 136
Does the Animal Experience Positive Psychological States? 138
Individual Variation and Ability to Experience Positive Welfare 138
A Note on Psychiatric Drug Use In Animals 139
Other Sources of Variation in Ability to Experience Positive Welfare 140
Does the Animal Experience Independence? 141
Action-Driven Agency 142
Caveats 143
Competence Building Agency 144
Mitigating Negative Competence Experiences and Providing Positive Ones 146
Does the Animal Experience Appropriate Social Interactions? 146
Does the Animal Experience a Complex, Appropriate Environment? 149
Balance Among Domains 150
Applying the Balance Model to Assess Exceptional Cases 151
Justifications for Scoring 152
Change Over Time 154
References 156
12 Scenarios 161
Scenario 1: Rock Hyrax 161
Scenario 2: Parrot 162
Scenario 3: Rhino 163
Scenario 4: Guinea Baboon One 163
Scenario 5: Guinea Baboon Two 164
Scenario 6: African Painted Dog 165
Scenario 7: Reticulated Python 166
Data Collection - General 166
Data Collection 167
Scenario 1: Rock Hyrax 167
Scenario 2: Parrot 169
Scenario 3: Rhino 176
Scenario 4: Guinea Baboon 1 181
Scenario 5: Baboon 2 187
Scenario 6: Painted Dog 187
Scenario 7: Python 187
Data Interpretation and Suggested Management Changes 190
Scenario 1: Rock Hyrax 190
Scenario 2: Parrot 192
Scenario 3: Rhino 192
Scenario 4: Baboon 1 194
Scenario 5: Baboon 2 195
Scenario 6: African Painted Dog 196
Scenario 7: Python 196
References 197
Index 199
