Bandeli, M., Mellor, E. L., Kroshko, J. et al. 2023. The welfare problems of wide-ranging Carnivora reflect naturally itinerant lifestyles. Royal Society Open Science 10, 230437.

Carnivora with naturally small home ranges readily adjust tothe evolutionarily new environment of captivity, but wider-ranging species seem prone to stress. Understanding why wouldadvance both collection planning and enclosure design. Wetherefore investigated which aspects of wide-ranging lifestylesare key. We identified eight correlates of home range size(reflecting energetic needs, movement, intra-specific interactions,and itinerant lifestyles). We systematically assessed whetherthese correlates predict welfare better than range size per se,using data on captive juvenile mortality (from 13 518 individualsacross 42 species) and stereotypic route-tracing (456 individuals,27 species). Naturally itinerant lifestyles (quantified via ratios ofdaily to annual travel distances) were found to confer risk,predicting greater captive juvenile losses and stereotypic time-budgets. This finding advances our understanding of theevolutionary basis for welfare problems in captive Carnivora,helping explain why naturally sedentary species (e.g. Americanmink) may breed even in intensive farm conditions, while others(e.g. polar bears, giant pandas) can struggle even in modernzoos and conservation breeding centres. Naturally itinerantlifestyles involve decision-making, and strategic shifts betweenlocations, suggesting that supplying more novelty, cognitivechallenge and/or opportunities for control will be effective waysto meet these animals’ welfare needs in captivity.