Bottlenose dolphin habitat and management factors related to activity and distance traveled in zoos and aquariums.

Lisa K Lauderdale,K Alex Shorter,Michael T Walsh,Douglas A Granger,Jill D Mellen,Ding Zhang,Lance J Miller,Joaquin Gabaldon,Songhai Li

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0250687

Abstract

High-resolution non-invasive cetacean tagging systems can be used to investigate the influence of habitat characteristics and management factors on behavior by quantifying activity levels and distance traveled by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus and Tursiops aduncus) in accredited zoos and aquariums. Movement Tags (MTags), a bio-logging device, were used to record a suite of kinematic and environmental information outside of formal training sessions as part of a larger study titled “Towards understanding the welfare of cetaceans in zoos and aquariums” (colloquially called the Cetacean Welfare Study). The purpose of the present study was to explore if and how habitat characteristics, environmental enrichment programs, and training programs were related to the distance traveled and energy expenditure of dolphins in accredited zoos and aquariums. Bottlenose dolphins in accredited zoos and aquariums wore MTags one day per week for two five-week data collection periods. Overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), a proxy for energy expenditure, and average distance traveled per hour (ADT) of 60 dolphins in 31 habitats were examined in relation to demographic, habitat, and management factors. Participating facilities were accredited by the Alliance for Marine Mammal Parks and/or Aquariums and the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Two factors were found to be related to ADT while six factors were associated with ODBA. The results showed that enrichment programs were strongly related to both ODBA and ADT. Scheduling predictable training session times was also positively associated with ADT. The findings suggested that habitat characteristics had a relatively weak association with ODBA and were not related to ADT. In combination, the results suggested that management practices were more strongly related to activity levels than habitat characteristics.

Highlights

Bio-logging devices are tools which can be used to study animal kinematics and to monitor behavior
The purpose of the present study was to use data from a bio-logging device to explore if and how habitat characteristics, environmental enrichment programs, and training programs were related to the distance traveled and energy expenditure of dolphins in accredited zoos and aquariums
Zoos and aquariums that were accredited in 2017 by the Alliance for Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums and the Association of Zoos & Aquariums were eligible for participation in this portion of the larger Cetacean Welfare Study provided they cared for common bottlenose dolphins or Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus)

Summary

Introduction

Bio-logging devices are tools which can be used to study animal kinematics and to monitor behavior. Bio-logging devices have been used to study the behavior and welfare of domesticated and non-domesticated animals in the wild as well as in farm, zoo, and aquarium environments. In domesticated species, they have been used to predict estrus in cows, quantify grazing patterns in cattle, identify heat stress indicators for swine, and examine welfare in both cattle and pigs [2,3,4,5]. Bio-logging devices provide researchers a means of quantifying the impact of human activities [11,12,13], tracking behavior change [14,15,16], locating animals within the habitat [17, 18], capturing acoustics simultaneously with dynamic movement [19], and exploring diving behavior and fine-scale kinematics [20, 21]

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