Primates and People in the Zoo: Implications of Human–Animal Interactions and Relationships

Abstract

Chronic human presence and human–animal interactions (HAIs) define zoo environments and affect zoo-animals’ behavior and welfare. Prior to the 1960s/1970s (e.g., Hediger, Man and animal in the zoo: Zoo biology, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1970; Morris, Symposia Zool Soc London, 13:99–118, 1964; Snyder, Behavioral stress in captive animals. Research in Zoos and Aquariums, National Academy of Science, Washington, DC, p. 41–76, 1975), humans in the zoo were considered of little consequence to zoo animals. Systematic studies of human impacts did not take off until the 1980s, primarily with nonhuman primates. Most of these studies examined visitor effects (i.e., the impact of visitors’ presence and behavior) and found that visitors had primarily negative effects on zoo primates’ behavior indicative of negative welfare. Visitor effect studies have provided a wealth of information, particularly for improving zoo primate welfare, visitor education, and enclosure design. Yet, such studies are limited because they only consider zoo primates’ interactions with primarily unfamiliar visitors. Zoo primates regularly encounter and interact with a range of humans in addition to unfamiliar visitors, including zoo keepers and other zoo personnel, familiar visitors, and occasionally researchers, yet interactions with humans other than unfamiliar visitors have been largely unexplored until recently. In the late 2000s, researchers began to recognize the need to examine a wider range of zoo primates’ HAIs and relationships (e.g., Hosey, Appl Anim Behav Sci, 109:105–127, 2008). Recent empirical studies have examined zoo primates’ interactions with zoo keepers/caretakers (e.g., Carrasco et al., Anim Welfare, 18:9–19, 2009; Chelluri et al., Appl Anim Behav Sci, 147:306–315, 2013; Jensvold, Zoo Biol,27:345–359, 2008; Jensvold et al. Inter Stud, 11(3):396–409, 2010; Pizzutto et al., Lab Primate Newslett, 46(3):6–10, 2007; Smith, Am J Primatol, 76(10):942–955, 2014) and other familiar humans (e.g., Smith, Am J Primatol, 76(10):942–955, 2014: non-keeper staff, familiar visitors). Findings from these studies indicate that zoo primates experience different interactions and may form different relationships with the different humans they encounter. In this chapter, I examine those differences and explore their implications for zoo primate welfare and for zoo-based primate research. Additionally, I explore insights from zoo research into the possible roles for ape–human interactions in primate rehabilitation/reintroduction and tourism.