Why Zoo Science Matters
Before we dive into such a broad, but important topic, we must define one word that you will come across multiple times in this lab note; animal welfare. According to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), animal welfare refers to “an animal’s collective physical, mental, and emotional states over a period of time, and is measured on a continuum from good to poor”. An animal is known to be in a good welfare state when it appears to be healthy, stress-free and housed in a safe and naturalistic environment which gives it the ability to perform species-typical behaviors. In contrast, an animal in a poor welfare state will appear to be living in stress (e.g., a common indicator of poor welfare is the presence of stereotypic behaviors). However, assessing animal welfare is often difficult because it requires information from multiple domains, including nutrition, environment, health, behavior, and mental state (Mellor, 2017). This is why zoo science matters and why performing research is so important; in order to gain a better understanding of the well-being of animals.
Zoological institutions are very active in participating in animal research in order to provide optimal welfare for their animals. According to the AZA, AZA-accredited institutions are expected to “conduct or facilitate research both in in situ [in the species natural habitat} and ex situ [in captivity] settings to advance scientific knowledge of the animals in our care, enhance the conservation of wild populations, and engage and inspire the visiting public”. AZA's commitment to zoo science is exemplified by their support for the American Association of Zoos and Aquarium's Challenge Grant through Experiment.com, of which our project is a part (stay tuned to see who won the challenge!).
In order to ensure these institutions are providing good animal welfare, the AZA Animal Welfare Committee assists member institutions in identifying and applying best practices in animal welfare and encourages the development of research projects and assessment tools to advance and monitor animal welfare in order to promote advances in animal welfare science.
The Conservation Society of California at Oakland Zoo in Oakland, California, is one example of these AZA-accredited institutions. Oakland Zoo has partnered with Sonoma State University in order to provide research experiences for students while advancing the care and welfare of species at Oakland Zoo. Zoological institutions like Oakland Zoo have a universal purpose: to provide the best animal care. Conducting research provides Oakland Zoo and other zoological institutions with data that can be used to enhance the welfare of the large variety of animals they care for.
Providing the best animal care is only one part of a zoo’s universal purpose. Additionally, zoos strive to provide outstanding experiences for their visitors and inspire the community to participate in conservation efforts.
A zoo visitor’s experience, whether it be positive or negative, is very much reliant on the behavior of the animals. When zoo animals are active and engaging in exciting behaviors (i.e., playing with enrichment, feeding, vocalizing, interacting with other animals/humans, etc.), visitors are more likely to return to the zoo because of their previous experience seeing animals being present and lively. In contrast, when animals are not active or are engaging in abnormal behaviors (i.e., stereotypic behaviors), visitors are less likely to be interested in returning to the zoo because the animals are not exciting, look ‘unhappy,’ or look ‘bored.’ According to an experiment by Miller (2012), viewing a pacing animal decreases people’s perception of the level of care animals receive within a zoological facility and their interest in visiting and supporting zoological institutions. Thus, zoos are concerned when they see that their animals are engaging in more stereotypic behaviors than species-typical behaviors. Researchers have discovered that environmental enrichment helps promote species-typical behaviors and reduce aberrant ones. Introducing new, complex enrichment has been shown to increase animal engagement with the environment while also promoting positive reactions from zoo visitors. In a study on captive spectacled bears, the introduction of enrichment items resulted in greater interest from the public as well as an increase in awareness of the bears and their endangered status (Renner & Lussier, 2002).
Since there is a strong connection between animal behavior and visitor experience, zoo research is incredibly important. If zoos can work to create complex and stimulating environments for animals and increase the prevalence of species-typical behaviors, then this will result in positive effects on visitor attitudes towards zoological institutions.
However, there is a conflict between the goals of animal welfare and entertaining visitors. According to Fernandez et al. (2009), zoos benefit when animals are active and interesting to visitors, but more people can also create a stressful situation for captive animals. Thus, zoo staff must pay careful attention to factors such as noisy crowds that might influence the behavior of the animals and respond accordingly. For instance, providing access to night quarters or creating an exhibit with places to hide allows an animal to escape from stressful situations, thereby promoting well-being. An animal that feels safe and comfortable in its environment will be more likely to be active and lively, which will increase the chances of visitors to observe natural behaviors from the animals.
It is clear that zoological institutions care just as much about their animals as they do about their visitors. Through research zoos can increase awareness about their animals and the importance of conservation. In this way, zoo science contributes not only to zoo animal welfare but also plays a critical role in educating the public. If you think zoo science matters as much as we do, we encourage you to learn more about our zoo research at experiment.com/sunbears and hope you'll consider backing our project. Thank you!
REFERENCES
Fernandez, E. J., Tamborski, M. A., Pickens, S. R., & Timberlake, W. (2009). Animal-visitor interactions in the modern zoo: Conflicts and interventions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 120(1–2), 1–8.
Mellor, D. J. (2017). Operational details of the five domains model and its key applications to the assessment and management of animal welfare. Animals, 7(8).
Miller, L. J. (2012). Visitor reaction to pacing behavior: Influence on the perception of animal care and interest in supporting zoological institutions. Zoo Biology, 31(2), 242–248.
Renner, M. J., & Lussier, J. P. (2002). Environmental enrichment for the captive spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus). Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 73(1), 279–283.
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