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| News :. Animal range clue to success in zoos
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Animals that range freely over large distances in the wild - such as bears and elephants - are much more likely than other species to suffer from stress and behavioural problems in zoos, according to a new study.
The confinement of such species should be fundamentally improved or phased out, assert Dr Ros Clubb and Dr Georgia Mason, of the Animal Behaviour Research group at the University of Oxford, in a report today in the British journal Nature.
"Our results show, to our knowledge for the first time, that a particular lifestyle in the wild confers vulnerability to welfare problems in captivity," they say.
A polar bear's typical enclosure size, for example, is about one-millionth of its minimum home-range size.
Some species may be so significantly affected by a lack of room to roam that the development of some regions of their brains may be impaired, the report says.
The researchers recorded the frequency of infant mortality and stereotypical pacing - the most prevalent and clearly defined behavioural problem - in 35 species of caged carnivores.
For each species they also looked at all available field reports about the size of its home range, its daily travel distance, the time it spends in general activity and foraging, and on how reliant the animal is on hunting.
"Among the carnivores, naturally wide-ranging species show the most evidence of stress and/or psychological dysfunction in captivity, a finding that is cause for concern given the difficulties of conserving such species in situ," they say.
"Husbandry of these species in captivity is therefore in need of improvement, such as provision of extra space."
The research helps to explain why species such as ring-tailed lemurs and snow leopards, which have small home ranges, do well in captivity while others are prone to poor health, behavioural problems and breeding difficulties.
The problem lies not so much with the standard of care in zoos but from "constraints imposed on the natural behaviour of susceptible animals".
"Preventing natural behaviour patterns in animals can give rise to stress and frustration, and impair the development of brain regions that are involved in behavioural sequencing, thereby reducing the animals' ability to behave flexibly and appropriately," they say.
The study suggests that zoos and similar establishments should consider not keeping the vulnerable species and concentrate instead on those that respond better to life in captivity. |
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