Abstract
Abnormal behaviors (feather plucking, pacing, etc.) are commonly observed in captive animals. Environmental enrichment techniques have been used to improve animal welfare by promoting the reduction of such behaviors and stimulating the display of typical behaviors. The present study examined the effects of environmental enrichment techniques in a captive pair of the endangered Golden Parakeet ( Guaruba guarouba , Psittacidae) which presented feather plucking behavior. Different objects of environmental enrichment were presented to birds between February and July 2008. Behavioral analyses were performed by comparing pre enrichment, enrichment introduction and after enrichment phases. At each phase, a total of 42 hours of behavioral data were collected through the scan method with instantaneous recording at sampling intervals of 30 seconds. The results showed that the behavioral diversity of the parakeets increased (e.g. “social behavior” 14.00 ± 3.01, GL = 2, N = 21, p = 0.19; “locomotion” 25.52 ± 3.14, GL = 2, N = 21, p = 0.01) and feather plucking decreased with the use of enrichment (0.10 ± 0.07, GL = 2, N = 21, p = 0.78). However, abnormal behavior was again observed after removing enrichment objects. Although environmental enrichment did not eliminate completely the display of abnormal behaviors, the introduction of objects had a positive effect on increasing behavioral diversity of the animals and, consequently, improving animal welfare.
Highlights
The life of animals in captivity has many differences when compared to animals that live in a natural environment
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of environmental enrichment techniques in a pair of Guaruba guarouba, which exhibited abnormal behavior of feather plucking, in order to decrease or eliminate this behavior and improve their welfare
The most frequent behaviors displayed during the pre-enrichment phase were: “resting” (345.40 ± 12.10), “manipulating and feeding” (43.62 ± 7.20) and “vigilance” (26.76 ± 3.74)
Summary
The life of animals in captivity has many differences when compared to animals that live in a natural environment. Numerous studies on captive animals showed that captivity can result in behavioral problems (Bashaw et al 2001, Bachmann et al 2003, Garner et al 2004, Torrey & Widowski 2006, Clubb & Vickery 2006, Harlander-Matauschek et al 2007, Dixon et al 2008) such as feather plucking This kind of intensified preening can result from chronic stress associated with excessive self-comforting or physical health disorders (Garner et al 2003) and a sterile and predictable environment (van Zeeland et al 2009)
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