Week 2: Assessing effectiveness (success) of enrichment for animal wellbeing through behaviour analysis in zoos Flashcards
Four goals of modern zoos
Conservation, Education, Entertainment and Research
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
Stereotypic behaviour
_______ = compromised well-being.
Stereotypic behaviour
Examples include of compromised behaviour:
- Pacing Head-shaking
- Weaving Self-mutilation
- Rocking Feather plucking
- Bar-biting Tail biting
Five categories of enrichment
Food-based, Physical, Sensory, Social, Cognitive
centred on type & delivery of food
Food-based
changes to structural environment permanent or temporary- or provision of objects to
manipulate
Physical
stimulates senses- what they see, hear, or
smell
Sensory
interactions with other animals- same or
different species- or people
Social
problem solving tasks
Cognitive
__________ is the most common measure for
exploring animal welfare and is widely used in zoo
research
Behaviour
A quantitative representation of proportion of time an animal spends engaged in behaviour or activities - as a guide for “normal behaviour”, _______ _______ budgets.
Published Activity
A list of behaviours, with operational definitions, observed in a species or group
Ethograms
Used to investigate how animals use their enclosure or space, ________ diagrams.
Enclosure diagrams
Used to collect systematic data on behaviour & location, _______ _______ sheets.
data collection
The repertoire of behaviours that characterise how a particular species behaves in “the wild”, ________-________ behaviour.
species-typical
Abnormal or aberrant behaviour - Unusual or rare behaviour that might be
pathological”
Stereotypic behaviour
(e.g. Pacing, Head-shaking, Weaving, Self-mutilation, Rocking, Feather plucking, Bar-biting, Tail biting)
Benefits to measuring behaviour
–Easy to implement
–Inexpensive
–Non-invasive
Three levels of familiar (zoo-keeper) contact
Hands-off (limited interaction)
Protected (mesh or fence in between)
Hands-on (in with animal
Study design for same visitors in the zoo. _______ groups.
Within
Study design for different visitors in the zoo, _________ groups.
Between
Effective enrichment should not be predictable (e.g. fixed schedules of
reinforcement). True/False
True
Most widely used method of enrichment
Food based enrichment
Most studies rely on ______ - ______ questionnaires and surveys of visitors for developing valid and reliable measures
self-reports
Quantitative behavioural measurements provide evidence of ___________ changes
Behavioural
Report findings including ________!
Failures
ABAB research design (experiment)
A1 = Baseline 1 (record behaviour)
B = Treatment (introduce enrichment & record behaviour)
A2 = Baseline 2 (remove enrichment & record behaviour)
B = Treatment (reintroduce enrichment & record behaviour)
Assessing how severe or serious stereotypic or ‘abnormal’ behaviour is - 5 questions
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?
More than ___ percent of time spent in abnormal behaviour is considered unacceptable.
10
_____ severe if the animal is easily distracted from the
behaviour
Less
______ severe if the animal is less aware of the
surroundings
More
Written definitions for every category of behaviour on a
data sheet, __________ definitions.
operational
Categories should be _________ of each other. All
behaviours included in a particular category should be
_________ (or the same/similar)
Independent, homogeneous
Spending time informally observing the animals &
practice recording methods, _________ observations.
Preliminary
Sampling rule:
* common sampling rule for zoo animal studies
* observe one individual for a specified length of time.
Focal animal sampling
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).
Instantaneous time sampling
________ reinforcement occurs when simply performing a behaviour increases the probability that the behaviour will occur again
Intrinsic
“Response decrement
as a result of repeated stimulation’’
Habituation
________ 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
Extrinsic
______ occurs when reinforcement is no longer provided for a behaviour, resulting in a
decrease in the performance of the behaviour
Extinction
