Captive animals, especially those not
domesticated, sometimes develop repetitive and purposeless motor behaviors
called stereotypical behaviors. Examples of stereotypical behaviours include
pacing around, biting themselves, retracing their steps, and self-grooming. These behaviours are caused by stress and boredom.
The
behavioural abnormalities can include:
Stereotypies
- behaviours that are fixed, apparently purposeless and repeated, such as
weaving, rocking and pacing.
Increased aggression - to both social partners and other animals even human
Altered time budgets - where the distribution of time between behaviours is very different
from in the wild.
Increased frustration or conflict behaviour - including displacement behaviours or behaviours that seem out of
context such as head-shaking, scratching, chewing or licking
Increased fearful behaviour - including avoidance, shivering, sweating or over- reaction to slight
environmental changes.
Ontogenic behavioural changes - where an animal no longer performs the normal behaviour for its
species at a particular age or stage of development
Animals that do not exhibit a wide range
of normal behaviours give their impression to the visitors of being bored and
unhappy in the confinement. In these circumstances, visitors may fail to understand
the Zoo’s educational information and its underlying message of conservation.
It is important for Zoos to develop
their animals enclosures as miniature examples of the wild habitats in which
animals are encouraged to display a range of their natural behaviour. The
husbandary and design techniques used to achieve this are referred to as
environmental enrichment.
This is a fantastic information. Please write something about human-animal interactions in Zoo
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