Abstract:
Zookeepers are the primary caretakers of animals, providing daily care through frequent and close interactions. From the animal\'s perspective, most of these daily interactions are likely to have positive outcomes. With consistent and reliable interactions, a human-animal relationship is expected to develop. Our aim of this study was to investigate if the presence of the primary keeper in the public viewing area of zoo exhibits impacts the behavior of animals. We observed the behavior of 15 individuals of six species in the presence and absence of their primary keeper. Overall, we observed animals being more active in their keeper\'s presence than when the keeper was not present. When we considered if the keeper was nearby around times of offered opportunities to animals (e.g., feeding, enrichment, and training), our results showed that animals were equally as active when the keeper was present before an opportunity and when no opportunity was offered. These equal activity levels imply that the keeper is a cue for a forthcoming event to the animals, which reflects anticipatory behavior. Overall, we demonstrate that keeper presence is an environmental context in which animals behave differently than in keeper absence.
摘要:
动物园管理员是动物的主要看护者,通过频繁和密切的互动提供日常护理。从动物的角度来看,这些日常互动中的大多数可能会产生积极的结果。通过一致和可靠的交互,人与动物的关系有望发展。这项研究的目的是调查动物园公共观看区域中主要饲养员的存在是否会影响动物的行为。我们观察了六个物种中的15个个体在存在和不存在其主要饲养员的情况下的行为。总的来说,我们观察到动物在饲养员在场时比饲养员不在场时更活跃。当我们考虑到饲养员是否在向动物提供机会的时间附近时(例如,喂养,富集,和培训),我们的结果表明,当饲养员在机会之前在场和没有机会时,动物同样活跃。这些相等的活动水平意味着饲养员是动物即将到来的事件的线索,反映了预期行为。总的来说,我们证明了饲养员的存在是一种环境背景,在这种环境中,动物的行为与饲养员不存在时的行为不同。