Abstract
Simple SummaryIt is important to understand the impacts that humans have on zoo animals to ensure that zoo animal welfare is not compromised. We conducted multiple short-term studies of the impact of zoo visitors on 16 animal species and found that 90.9% of the mammal species and 60.0% of the fish species studied exhibited some change in behavior related to zoo visitors. Animals with behavioral changes were housed in exhibits with no direct contact with humans and exhibits with direct contact. These changes in behaviors were not always consistent across species, and often individual animals of the same species and living within the same exhibit had varied behavioral responses. We recommend (1) using short-term assessments to identify behavioral responses that may be of concern; (2) monitoring individual responses of zoo animals to humans; and (3) creating refuges where animals may choose to retreat.The impact that humans have on zoo animals can vary based on the species of animal, exhibit design, and individual differences in behavioral responses. We independently analyzed data from 10 never-published studies that examined the impact of zoo visitors on zoo animal behavior. Of the 16 species studied, 90.9% of the mammal species and 60.0% of the fish species demonstrated a change in at least one behavior based on zoo visitor abundance or visitor behavior (e.g., noise, solicitation of interactions from zoo animals). In addition, behavioral changes associated with zoo visitors were present in animals housed in exhibits where there was direct contact with zoo visitors, as well as in exhibits where there was indirect contact and no direct contact. Individuals often varied in their behavioral responses, and some individuals appeared to seek out interactions with visitors. Our findings demonstrate that short-term research projects can provide valuable insight into individual animal-level and species-level responses to visitor abundance and visitor behavior in the zoo setting. We recommend that behavioral assessments focus on the analysis of behaviors of individual animals whenever possible, and we recommend that exhibits provide areas that allow for animals to retreat from the public view.
Highlights
Zoos can play important roles in conservation education, and the experiences that visitors have at a zoo can influence visitors’ perceived connections with the animals, as well as visitors’ responses to conservation messages [1,2]
Because individual animals may have different behavioral responses, whenever possible, we focused our analyses on individual animals, so that animals that demonstrated a change in behavior could be immediately identified, which is important for managing individual animals in a zoo [58,59]
We found that more than 80% of the species in our study indicated some degree of behavioral change related to the presence of zoo visitors
Summary
Zoos can play important roles in conservation education, and the experiences that visitors have at a zoo can influence visitors’ perceived connections with the animals, as well as visitors’ responses to conservation messages [1,2]. Visitors often show more interest in animals that are active [5,6], and some visitors report having positive emotional responses after having a direct interaction with a zoo animal [7]. As a result of factors related to zoo visitors (e.g., increased visitor abundance, increased noise), some animals have been shown to exhibit behavioral and physiological changes that can be indicative of stress [9,10]. Additional studies are needed to understand the extent visitors impact the welfare of the zoo animals [19], as behavioral changes in an animal do not necessarily indicate a negative effect on animal welfare [13,20]
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