Establishing a predictable cue for catches to reduce reactivity to management events for captive rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

Abstract

Psychological duress can emerge from the perceived lack of predictability such that, in captive circumstances, reliable signals for aversive events can afford animals with the opportunity to behaviorally and physiologically prepare. Does a reliable and unique signal cue for an aversive management event reduce reactivity to management events that share unreliable cues? We recorded animal responses to management events near, or involving, outdoor-housed rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in two large mixed-sex groups, with experimental periods that introduced a signal coupled to catch events. Management events varied in the severity and magnitude of animal responses. Our results validated that catches were more disruptive than management events that indirectly involved animal subjects, yet were comparable to management events involving direct interactions. Signal use reduced aversive responses to more routine management events that shared unreliable cues with catches. Due to the abundance of these routine events, we assert that the value of change with the implementation of the signal provided a detectable improvement across multiple measures of disruption.