A Guide to Managing Zoo Animal Welfare: A Behavioral Approach

Comprehensive reference detailing behavioral assessment techniques, behavioral approaches, and practical tools for animal welfare across different species A Guide to Managing Zoo Animal Welfare delivers a step-by-step guide to behavioral assessment approaches, techniques, and tools for animal welfare with an emphasis on animals living in zoos and aquaria. The authors develop a unique “balance-based” approach that can be used to assess and enhance the welfare of a diverse range of species. Backed by extensive scientific literature, this book also provides foundational context to help readers to understand why the authors give these recommendations and guidelines. This book is divided into three sections. Section I details background concepts and goals, discussing the animal mind through neuroscience, psychology, and behavior, even questioning wild animal behavior’s validity as a template for captive animal behavior. Section II details the core behavioral Needs of animals, investigating, acquiring rewards, and exerting control. Section III explains how to practically assess if animals’ Needs are met and address deficiencies, covering topics like food, space, and social rewards and methods to make environments dynamic. A Guide to Managing Zoo Animal Welfare includes information on: Proximate and ultimate reasoning for the existence of each of the Needs Welfare benefits of meeting the Needs, including positive affect, maintaining homeostasis, passing on genes, and learning through reinforcement The highly variable personalities of individual animals and different animal species, as well as why personality is an important facet of animal welfare A guide for assessing animal welfare using the Three Needs model Presenting highly unique insight and a novel approach, A Guide to Managing Zoo Animal Welfare is an essential learning resource for professional animal behaviorists in zoos and aquaria, researchers in animal behavior and animal welfare, and students in veterinary sciences and zoology programs of study.

Table of Contents:
1 Background Concepts and Goals 1 Keeping Animals 1 Affective Neuroscience 5 Motivation Psychology 6 Animal Behavior 6 References 8 2 Is Wild Animal Behavior a Proper Template for Captive Animal Behavior? 11 References 18 3 Investigating 19 Proximate Versus Ultimate Drivers of Behavior –A Note on Terminology 19 Investigation 22 Why Investigate? 22 Proximate Drivers of Investigation 25 Animals Under Human Care Retain Their Drive for Understanding 27 References 34 4 Acquiring Reward 37 Why Acquire Rewards? 38 Proximate Drivers of Reward Acquisition 40 Acquiring Rewards Supports Welfare of Animals in Human Care 41 References 46 5 Exerting Control 51 Why Exert Control? 52 Proximate Drivers of Exerting Control 53 Opportunities to Exert Control for Supporting Well-Being in Captive Animals 56 References 60 6 Balance: Good Welfare Through Psychological Resilience 63 References 69 7 Animal Personality: For Every Animal, All Needs Are Important, but They Are Not Equal 73 References 77 8 What It Looks Like When the Needs Are Met and Not Met 79 Meeting Needs 79 References 84 9 Assessment. Asking Animals, “Are Your Needs Met?” 85 The Balance Sheet Approach Using Direct Observation 86 Developing Observation Methods 87 Developing a List of Behaviors to Look for 90 Assessing the Data 91 The Balance Sheet Approach – Using Caretaker Interviews 95 Summarizing the Interview 99 Direct Tests and Probes for Mood-Like State 101 Anticipatory Behavior 101 Cognitive Bias 103 Novel Objects 104 Assessing the Opportunities 105 References 106 10 A Practitioner’s Guide to Meeting the Needs 109 Supporting Investigation 110 Supporting the Acquisition of Rewards 117 Supporting Exerting Control 118 Availability of Opportunities 122 Relevance of Opportunities 124 Ability to Engage 125 Surrogate Behaviors, Surrogate Behavioral Sequences, and Cross-Domain Carryover of Opportunity Effects 126 References 128 11 Exceptional Cases: Geriatric, Chronically and Acutely Ill, and Injured Animals 133 Does the Animal Experience Themself as Physically Healthy? 136 Does the Animal Experience Positive Psychological States? 138 Individual Variation and Ability to Experience Positive Welfare 138 A Note on Psychiatric Drug Use In Animals 139 Other Sources of Variation in Ability to Experience Positive Welfare 140 Does the Animal Experience Independence? 141 Action-Driven Agency 142 Caveats 143 Competence Building Agency 144 Mitigating Negative Competence Experiences and Providing Positive Ones 146 Does the Animal Experience Appropriate Social Interactions? 146 Does the Animal Experience a Complex, Appropriate Environment? 149 Balance Among Domains 150 Applying the Balance Model to Assess Exceptional Cases 151 Justifications for Scoring 152 Change Over Time 154 References 156 12 Scenarios 161 Scenario 1: Rock Hyrax 161 Scenario 2: Parrot 162 Scenario 3: Rhino 163 Scenario 4: Guinea Baboon One 163 Scenario 5: Guinea Baboon Two 164 Scenario 6: African Painted Dog 165 Scenario 7: Reticulated Python 166 Data Collection – General 166 Data Collection 167 Scenario 1: Rock Hyrax 167 Scenario 2: Parrot 169 Scenario 3: Rhino 176 Scenario 4: Guinea Baboon 1 181 Scenario 5: Baboon 2 187 Scenario 6: Painted Dog 187 Scenario 7: Python 187 Data Interpretation and Suggested Management Changes 190 Scenario 1: Rock Hyrax 190 Scenario 2: Parrot 192 Scenario 3: Rhino 192 Scenario 4: Baboon 1 194 Scenario 5: Baboon 2 195 Scenario 6: African Painted Dog 196 Scenario 7: Python 196 References 197 Index 199

About the Author :
Jason V. Watters, Adjunct Associate Professor, Animal Science, University of California, Davis, California, USA Bethany L. Krebs, Executive Editor of Zoo Biology, San Francisco, California, USA