Jenna Mae Davison, Amy Hammond, Georgia Abernethy-Palmer, James Edward Brereton
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Whole food diets in zoos have the potential to reduce microbial contamination and keeper preparation time, whilst also reducing food nutrient breakdown. Given these benefits, it is important to determine whether there is any value in chopping up food. Lemurs (Family Lemuridae) are common in zoos, with over 7500 individuals housed globally. Given their regular occurrence in collections, plus the high incidence of frugivory, lemurs are an excellent taxon to investigate food presentation effects on behavior. A study was undertaken at Beale Wildlife Park on a group of four black-and-white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata) to investigate food presentation and preference. Animal behavior was recorded using instantaneous focal sampling at 60 s intervals to record state behaviors and continuous focal sampling to record event behaviors in 1-h sessions. Food preference was done by recording the first three food items consumed by individual lemurs. Overall, food manipulation was significantly increased during whole food presentation allowing the lemurs to display species-specific behaviors. Feeding and foraging were highest during very chopped food condition and inactivity was lowest in very chopped food presentation. When looking at aggressive interactions, there was an increase in stealing and locomotion with food during whole food presentation, whereas biting and startle were lower. Proving high-value food items chopped and low-value food items whole could reduce aggression while reduce aggression seen over high-value food items. For food preference, sweet potato was consistently in the top three food items for all lemurs, with beetroot being the second most-picked food item. This suggests that these individuals have a strong preference for food items high in carbohydrates. Keeper preparation time was significantly reduced during whole food preparation. Further research assessing a wider range of zoo-housed species would be beneficial to assess the effects of food presentation on behavior.
期刊介绍:
The objective of the American Journal of Primatology is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and findings among primatologists and to convey our increasing understanding of this order of animals to specialists and interested readers alike.
Primatology is an unusual science in that its practitioners work in a wide variety of departments and institutions, live in countries throughout the world, and carry out a vast range of research procedures. Whether we are anthropologists, psychologists, biologists, or medical researchers, whether we live in Japan, Kenya, Brazil, or the United States, whether we conduct naturalistic observations in the field or experiments in the lab, we are united in our goal of better understanding primates. Our studies of nonhuman primates are of interest to scientists in many other disciplines ranging from entomology to sociology.