Abstract
Environmental enrichment is critical for maintaining cognitive welfare for animals in human care but is subject to individual preferences. The interest in a video-based enrichment was assessed for a single killer whale (Orcinus orca) in human care. The adult female was presented 20 video recordings featuring cetaceans, elephants, or humans with each video presented in two conditions: (1) with sound and (2) without sound. Four additional presentations in which the television displayed a blank screen served as controls. All sessions were videotaped and coded for time spent viewing the recordings, behavioral responses, and visual laterality. The killer whale spent significantly more time at the television when programs were on screen compared to when the television was present but blank. She was more likely to watch videos accompanied by sound than those presented without sound. Videos were more likely to be viewed monocularly rather than binocularly, with a right eye preference when viewing the videos the first time they were presented. The highest rates of behavioral responses occurred during videos of cetaceans. These results demonstrate that one killer whale responded to video recordings of different stimuli, suggesting that video recordings may be used as a form of enrichment for cetaceans and that not all video content and formats are equally interesting.
Highlights
Environmental enrichment is critical for maintaining cognitive welfare for animals in human care, but is subject to individual preferences
The highest rates of behavioral responses occurred during videos of cetaceans
These results demonstrate that one killer whale responded to video recordings of different stimuli, suggesting that video recordings may be used as a form of enrichment for cetaceans and that not all video content and formats are interesting
Summary
Environmental enrichment is critical for maintaining cognitive welfare for animals in human care, but is subject to individual preferences. The killer whale spent significantly more time at the television when programs were on screen compared to when the television was present but blank She was more likely to watch videos accompanied by sound than those presented without sound. The socially-housed animals showed evidence of habituation to multiple presentations of the same program as the viewing rates of the individually-housed chimpanzees remained consistent throughout the study (Bloomsmith et al, 1990). The chimpanzees did not show a preference for any one type of video, but some evidence of habituation emerged It is unclear if these results were related to the housing method as the viewing times reported included the combined results of individually- and socially-housed animals
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