Abstract
In natural environments, bear behavior follows seasonal patterns but the zoo environment differs from the natural environment in several ways, including the presence of zoo visitors. Although typically difficult to disentangle, we were able to tease apart the effects of seasonal changes and visitor density on the visibility and behavior of 10 bears representing five species housed at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo due to the disruption caused by COVID-19. We conducted a longitudinal bear behavior monitoring project from June, 2017-November, 2020. Bears were more visible in the spring and in the presence of visitors, locomoted more and were less inactive when large crowds were present, foraged and locomoted more when it was earlier in the day, and locomoted more at higher temperatures. There were limited differences in bear visibility to observers between 2020 (when the zoo was temporarily closed to visitors) and the previous three years. There were no differences in rates of stereotypy or social behavior across seasons, crowds, or daily attendance categories. Based on these limited differences, neither season nor visitor density seemed to have an apparent effect on bear behavior or welfare.
Highlights
Bear behavioral ecology is influenced by seasonal changes in natural environmental factors such as daylight, temperature, and food availability (Stirling & Derocher, 1990)
Despite the disruption of COVID-19 and the associated zoo closure, we observed no behavioral differences between a spring and summer of limited visitors and the three previous years, except that bears were more visible to guests in the summer of 2020 than in the summer of 2018
We did observe limited differences in activity levels associated with large crowd sizes and limited seasonal differences in behavior, but the lack of any other interactions of season and year suggest that previously reported seasonal changes in zoo bear behavior may not have been attributable to varying crowd sizes between seasons
Summary
Bear behavioral ecology is influenced by seasonal changes in natural environmental factors such as daylight, temperature, and food availability (Stirling & Derocher, 1990). When caring for bears, these factors are taken into account by zoo managers, along with other environmental variables over which they have control, such as habitat size and features, ambient noise, caretaker interactions, and proximity to and protection from visitors How these natural and zoo environmental variables affect bear behavior and welfare is of great interest to zoo managers, but the effects of these variables can be difficult to disentangle. Andean bears, southern Asiatic black bears, sun bears, and giant pandas do not hibernate (García-Rangel, 2012; Garshelis & Steinmetz 2020; Joshi et al, 1997; Nie et al, 2015; Scotson et al, 2017), but polar bears, northern Asiatic black bears, brown bears, and American black bears have a four- to six- month period of hibernation during the winter, which likely evolved as a way to survive during a period in which very little food was available (Garshelis & Steinmetz, 2020; Stirling & Derocher, 1990). Others have noted that the presence of visitors or the associated increase in noise levels was linked with increases in undesirable behaviors, such as stereotypies, increased vigilance, or hiding (giraffes, elephants, and emus, Jakob-Hoff et al, 2019; gorillas, Blaney & Wells, 2004; felids, Suárez et al, 2017; jaguars, Sellinger & Ha, 2005; koalas, Larsen et al, 2014)
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