Captive large felines are prone to abnormal repetitive behaviors like pacing, which are associated with welfare issues. Visual contact without the opportunity to engage in appropriate behavior is known to increase pacing. To better understand...
Lion (Panthera leo) cubs are used in wildlife interaction tourism but the effects on cub welfare are unknown. We assessed the behaviour of three cohorts of lion cubs, twelve animals in total, at three different...
Many large mammalian terrestrial carnivores do not hunt every day in their natural habitats, because given the right prey, they can gorge-feed more than their daily energy and nutrient requirements. At the same time, there...
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...
The development of evidence-based zoo animal welfare science and the use of the “five domains” have inspired zoos to increase animal welfare, particularly recognising positive welfare states. We tested whether natural biology (number of habitats...
Offering captive animals larger, more complex spaces are thought to benefit their welfare. To this end, some zoos use trail systems linked to several enclosures. Since little is known about the effects of such designs...
Scientific evidences support the fact that environmental enrichment, when effective, can affect the behavior of animals in captivity in a way suggestive of an improvement in their quality of life. In the internationally published literature...
The use of live food in zoological collections is a constant source of debate, with multiple approaches to discussions of implementation. The debate can be divided between those ‘internal’ (professionals within captive care) and ‘external’...
Many large mammalian terrestrial carnivores do not hunt every day in their natural habitats, because given the right prey, they can gorge-feed more than their daily energy and nutrient requirements. At the same time, there...
In order to be successful and have high standards of animal welfare, modern zoos strive to regularly modify, improve, and build animal enclosures and visitor areas. However, these periods of development could result in temporary...