Abstract
Simple SummaryThe welfare of captive animals is nowadays a topic of major concern. In order to express their natural behavioral repertoires, however, animals require complex environments and stimuli which are difficult to reproduce in captivity. To overcome this, environmental enrichment is considered one of the most successful tools to increase behavioral opportunities and enhance animal welfare. In this study, we explored whether providing an artificial termite-fishing task, and whether participation in this task, predicted changes in the solitary and social behavior of sanctuary-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). We compared chimpanzee behavior when the enrichment was presented to different periods without enrichment. We found that the presence of the enrichment predicted an increase in tool use and feeding behavior and a decrease in inactivity, especially for those chimpanzees with higher participation. However, we did not detect significant changes in abnormal or self-directed behaviors. Furthermore, we found no variation in affiliation- or aggression-related behaviors, but social proximity increased in chimpanzees that participated more. Our results support previous studies demonstrating that artificial termite-fishing promotes species-typical behaviors in captive chimpanzees with no major effects on social activities.Artificial termite-fishing tasks are a common enrichment for captive great apes, promoting species-typical behaviors. Nonetheless, whether these activities are linked to changes in other behaviors and whether these changes persist over time has seldom been investigated. We assessed whether the use of an artificial termite-fishing task was linked to changes in the solitary behavior and social dynamics in two groups of sanctuary-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Specifically, we compared chimpanzee behavior during eight enrichment sessions distributed over a two-month period, with similar periods before and after the introduction of the enrichment. Data were collected from combined interval and continuous sampling methods and were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models. We found that participation increased across sessions and that both enrichment and participation predicted an increase in tool use and feeding and a decrease in inactivity, which were all maintained throughout the sessions. Furthermore, participation was positively associated with social proximity, revealing a gathering effect of the task. However, neither enrichment nor participation were linked to changes in abnormal, self-directed, affiliation-related or aggression-related behaviors. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that artificial termite-fishing is a suitable enrichment for captive chimpanzees, maintaining the subjects’ interest and promoting species-typical behaviors, with no negative effects on social activities.
Highlights
Concern for the welfare of captive animals has progressively increased over the past few decades
Participation in the enrichment activity varied widely across individuals, with 4 out of the 14 chimpanzees in our sample never being observed while interacting with the termite mounds
We aimed to address: (1) whether participation in the enrichment was linked to individual differences like sex or age, and whether it would decrease across sessions (Model 1, Prediction 1), (2) if chimpanzee behavior changed across phases and conditions and (3) if chimpanzee behavior changed as a function of participation during the treatment phase (Models 2b–9b, Predictions 2b–9b)
Summary
Concern for the welfare of captive animals has progressively increased over the past few decades. In order to achieve an optimal level of welfare, animals need to cope with their environment and thrive in it [8,12] In other words, they need to be provided with opportunities to experience positive welfare states to have a “life worth living” [13]. They need to be provided with opportunities to experience positive welfare states to have a “life worth living” [13] They must be able to express speciestypical behaviors, known as ethological needs [14,15], or natural behaviors [16] like they exhibit in the wild [17]. Environmental enrichment is generally considered one of the most effective tools to increase behavioral opportunities and enhance welfare; they are a key component of captive animal management [12]. Environmental enrichment may increase positive affective states [21], generate highly motivated behaviors and modify the physiological response of animals [22]
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