Week 2: Assessing effectiveness (success) of enrichment for animal wellbeing through behaviour analysis in zoos

Question 1

Four goals of modern zoos

Answer 1

Conservation, Education, Entertainment and Research

Question 2

A repetitive, invariant behaviour, which may be the result of frustration, attempts to cope with
suboptimal environment, or a dysfunction of the
central nervous system

Answer 2

Stereotypic behaviour

Question 3

_______ = compromised well-being.

Answer 3

Stereotypic behaviour

Question 4

Examples include of compromised behaviour:

Answer 4

• Pacing Head-shaking
• Weaving Self-mutilation
• Rocking Feather plucking
• Bar-biting Tail biting

Question 5

Five categories of enrichment

Answer 5

Food-based, Physical, Sensory, Social, Cognitive

Question 6

centred on type & delivery of food

Answer 6

Food-based

Question 7

changes to structural environment permanent or temporary- or provision of objects to
manipulate

Answer 7

Physical

Question 8

stimulates senses- what they see, hear, or
smell

Answer 8

Sensory

Question 9

interactions with other animals- same or
different species- or people

Answer 9

Social

Question 10

problem solving tasks

Answer 10

Cognitive

Question 11

__________ is the most common measure for
exploring animal welfare and is widely used in zoo
research

Answer 11

Behaviour

Question 12

A quantitative representation of proportion of time an animal spends engaged in behaviour or activities - as a guide for “normal behaviour”, _______ _______ budgets.

Answer 12

Published Activity

Question 13

A list of behaviours, with operational definitions, observed in a species or group

Answer 13

Ethograms

Question 14

Used to investigate how animals use their enclosure or space, ________ diagrams.

Answer 14

Enclosure diagrams

Question 15

Used to collect systematic data on behaviour & location, _______ _______ sheets.

Answer 15

data collection

Question 16

The repertoire of behaviours that characterise how a particular species behaves in “the wild”, ________-________ behaviour.

Answer 16

species-typical

Question 17

Abnormal or aberrant behaviour - Unusual or rare behaviour that might be
pathological”

Answer 17

Stereotypic behaviour

(e.g. Pacing, Head-shaking, Weaving, Self-mutilation, Rocking, Feather plucking, Bar-biting, Tail biting)

Question 18

Benefits to measuring behaviour

Answer 18

–Easy to implement
–Inexpensive
–Non-invasive

Question 19

Three levels of familiar (zoo-keeper) contact

Answer 19

Hands-off (limited interaction)

Protected (mesh or fence in between)

Hands-on (in with animal

Question 20

Study design for same visitors in the zoo. _______ groups.

Answer 20

Within

Question 21

Study design for different visitors in the zoo, _________ groups.

Answer 21

Between

Question 22

Effective enrichment should not be predictable (e.g. fixed schedules of
reinforcement). True/False

Answer 22

True

Question 23

Most widely used method of enrichment

Answer 23

Food based enrichment

Question 24

Most studies rely on ______ - ______ questionnaires and surveys of visitors for developing valid and reliable measures

Answer 24

self-reports

Question 25

Quantitative behavioural measurements provide evidence of ___________ changes

Answer 25

Behavioural

Question 26

Report findings including ________!

Answer 26

Failures

Question 27

ABAB research design (experiment)

Answer 27

A1 = Baseline 1 (record behaviour)
B = Treatment (introduce enrichment & record behaviour)
A2 = Baseline 2 (remove enrichment & record behaviour)
B = Treatment (reintroduce enrichment & record behaviour)

Question 28

Assessing how severe or serious stereotypic or ‘abnormal’ behaviour is - 5 questions

Answer 28

What is the FORM of the behaviour?
What % OF THE DAY is spent engaged in the behaviour?
How easily can the animal be DISTRACTED from performing the behaviour?
Is there an obvious REASON for the behaviour?
Is it really a PROBLEM?

Question 29

More than ___ percent of time spent in abnormal behaviour is considered unacceptable.

Answer 29

10

Question 30

_____ severe if the animal is easily distracted from the
behaviour

Answer 30

Less

Question 31

______ severe if the animal is less aware of the
surroundings

Answer 31

More

Question 32

Written definitions for every category of behaviour on a
data sheet, __________ definitions.

Answer 32

operational

Question 33

Categories should be _________ of each other. All
behaviours included in a particular category should be
_________ (or the same/similar)

Answer 33

Independent, homogeneous

Question 34

Spending time informally observing the animals &
practice recording methods, _________ observations.

Answer 34

Preliminary

Question 35

Sampling rule:
* common sampling rule for zoo animal studies
* observe one individual for a specified length of time.

Answer 35

Focal animal sampling

Question 36

Recording rule:
* dividing session into short successive intervals of time
(sample intervals)
* at end of each sample interval (sample point) record
behaviour that is occurring (beeper or timer goes off).

Answer 36

Instantaneous time sampling

Question 37

________ reinforcement occurs when simply performing a behaviour increases the probability that the behaviour will occur again

Answer 37

Intrinsic

Question 38

“Response decrement
as a result of repeated stimulation’’

Answer 38

Habituation

Question 39

________ reinforcement occurs when the performance of behavior results in a consequence that is
external to the behaviour itself and increases the likelihood that the behaviour will recur

Answer 39

Extrinsic

Question 40

______ occurs when reinforcement is no longer provided for a behaviour, resulting in a
decrease in the performance of the behaviour

Answer 40

Extinction