Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) is a social carnivore known for its complex social structure.
The species is listed as Endangered on the IUCN redlist and conservation efforts have involved
establishment of protected areas, research on human-wildlife conflicts and reintroduction
programmes. Reintroductions have involved both wild-caught and captive-born individuals but
have proven to be more successful if the majority of the individuals in the reintroduction group are
wild-caught. Thus a sustainable management of captive populations of the species, such as zoo
populations, to conserve genetic diversity as well as natural behaviour is important.
Enclosure design, feeding regime and group composition are important factors for zoo animal
welfare. In this study social interactions and space use in four adult African wild dogs at Borås
Zoo were observed during nine days in April 2020. The aim of the study was to investigate social
interactions before and during feeding as well as during times of the day when no feeding occurred
and to investigate if there was a relationship between social interactions and space use.
The results suggest that the African wild dog group at Borås Zoo is integrated and stable with
an established hierarchy. Social interactions in the holding area before feeding were mainly
submissive and dominant interactions between the two females and the most common social
interactions during feeding were dominant food-related interactions. During times of the day when
no feeding occurred the wild dogs were mainly inactive and all individuals were observed resting
together with other individuals in various combinations. The results show a possible relationship
between space use and participation in positive interactions.
The life of zoo animals includes a variety of different events, both daily and less regularly
occurring, and to learn more about how these events affect social interactions is beneficial to
improve animal welfare, management of ex situ populations and long-term species conservation.
Further research on social interactions in African wild dogs in zoos is therefore recommended.