Using Qualitative Behaviour Assessment to Investigate Human-Animal Relationships in Zoo-Housed Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Abstract

Simple SummaryHuman-animal relationships can develop from repeated interactions between zoo animals and their keepers. Positive, neutral or negative interactions can result in positive, neutral or negative relationships. Qualitative behavior assessment (QBA) has been utilized as a method to assess emotional expression in animals, but this has yet to be applied to zoo-housed animals. This paper reports a small pilot study aimed at exploring the use of QBA to address human-animal relationships (HAR) in zoos. Three giraffes were video recorded during four different types of keeper-animal interaction producing 38 clips. Using QBA, 18 observers were instructed to describe and score the emotional expressions of the giraffes observed in the clips. In addition, keeper actions during the keeper-animal interactions were assigned positive and negative values by an independent marker, summarized into a final score characterizing their quality. Results indicate that positive keeper actions resulted in calm and confident giraffes with a willingness to interact, whereas negative interactions resulted in more anxious and startled giraffes who were more easily distracted. This suggests that the quality of interaction by keepers influenced the emotional expression of these giraffes, which may affect the giraffe-keeper relationship and have potential welfare implications.Human-Animal Relationships (HAR) in zoos develop from repeated interactions between animals and their caretakers. HAR have been shown to affect health and welfare in farm animals, but limited zoo-based studies exist. This study investigates the association between the qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) of emotional expression in giraffes and keeper action score in four types of keeper-animal interaction (KAI). Three giraffes generating 38 clips. QBA, using a free-choice profiling methodology, was applied instructing 18 observers to assess giraffe expressions shown in these clips. QBA scores were analysed using Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Keeper actions during each KAI event were rated by an independent marker, resulting in cumulative scores for keeper action quality. The association between QBA and the keeper action was analyzed using Spearman’s rank correlations. Two main QBA dimensions were identified explaining 59% of the variation between clips. There were significant effects of giraffe and KAI type on QBA dimension 2 (inquisitive/impatient—calm/distracted), and significant positive associations between keeper action quality rating and QBA dimensions 1 and 2, indicating that positive keeper actions resulted in calm and confident giraffes with a willingness to interact. This is the first successful application of QBA for empirically addressing HARs in zoos, however given the small sample size of giraffes in this study, it can be regarded as a pilot study only, and further research is needed to validate the use of QBA in this context.