Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Animal welfare in zoos is a highly important subject since the individuals that live there acts as a reserve-population to the population in the wild. A high variety of natural behaviours performed by captive animals is one of the indicators used for measuring animal welfare. Another indicator that mostly points to a compromised welfare is the presence of stereotypic behaviours and at what rate they are shown. The most common stereotypic behaviour amongst large carnivores is pacing and unfortunately its’ occurrence amongst captive large felids is generally high.
The aim of this study was to map out behaviours shown by Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) in two zoos in Sweden. The aim also was to detect if pacing occurred and in what rate. From the results collected in this study the aim was to investigate if the welfare of the individuals could be determined. Data was collected during six days of observations via focal animal sampling and continuous registration. Simultaneous observations were conducted by two observers distributed at both zoos.
The results in this study show a large range of behaviours presented by the tigers. It also shows that the tigers at Borås Zoo have a higher frequency overall, representing about two thirds of the total number of registrations. The behaviours with the highest mean value were ”walking” (24,11) followed by "standing/sitting" (16,59). Pacing was performed by every individual and occurred in mean value 2.31 every hour for all the tigers. The most pacing was seen by the tigers at Nordens Ark when comparing zoos and by the males when comparing sexes. That can likely be deduced to the female at Borås Zoo who only performed this behaviour two times, both within the same observation hour.
Regarding the welfare of the tigers in this study no definitive conclusions can be drawn from these results due to the small sample size. The results point to a low occurrence in pacing and a high variety of behaviours shown by the tigers and therefore point to a high level of welfare. Further research over a greater number of weeks with a wider observation span is needed for a statistically valid result. This study can be used as a pilot study or as inspiration to future projects involving animal welfare in large captive felids.