Abstract
Visitors to zoos can have positive, neutral, or negative relationships with zoo animals. This makes human–animal interactions (HAIs) an essential component of welfare and an important consideration in species selection for zoo exhibits and in enclosure designs. We measured the effect of visitors on reptiles by comparing open and closed periods during the lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK in a low-resolution dataset for thirteen species of reptiles and a high-resolution dataset focussing on just one of these. Scan sampling on thirteen reptile species (two chelonians and eleven squamates) showed species-specific differences in response to the presence/absence of visitors, with most taxa being only weakly affected. High-resolution scan sampling via video footage of an off-show and on-show enclosure was carried out for tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) over the open and closed periods. In this part of the study, tokay geckos were significantly more visible during zoo closure than when visitors were present on-exhibit, but there was no change in off-show animals, indicating the effect of visitors as opposed to other factors, such as seasonality, which applied equally to both on- and off-show animals. The high-resolution study showed that a significant effect was present for tokay geckos, even though the low-resolution suggested that they were more weakly affected than other taxa. Our results indicate that, for cryptic species such as this, more intensive sampling may be required to properly understand visitor effects. Our data do not allow the interpretation of effects on welfare but show that such assessments require a species-specific approach.
Highlights
Modern zoos have multiple roles, including education, scientific research, species conservation and entertainment [1]
This study aims to expand the understanding of human–animal interactions by comparing the visibility of a range of species during periods of visitors’ presence and absence in a rapid assessment case study context similar to that provided for amphibians by Boultwood et al [21]
Like other visitor effect studies carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of this study provided evidence of the influence of visitors’ presence on the behaviour of captive reptiles, forming a foundation for further expansion in visitor impact research in this class
Summary
Modern zoos have multiple roles, including education, scientific research, species conservation and entertainment [1]. Zoos have strengthened efforts to develop ways in which their welfare can be assessed [7,8,9], including investigating the effects of human–animal interactions (HAI). Human–animal interactions and relationships are omnipresent in a zoo setting and can be beneficial to both human and animal participants. They may create welfare risks and ethical dilemmas [10]. Where HAI have been studied in a zoo setting, this is often mammalfocused, especially primate-focused, and the results highlight some negative effects of visitors on animal behaviours [4,10,12] but, positive impacts [4,13,14]
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