Includes wildlife rehabilitation facilities.
Environmental enrichment (EE) is used to promote natural behaviours in captive animals and may hold promise as a form of pre-release training, a strategy for improving coping skills of translocated birds. We investigated the use...
Social buffering of stress refers to the effect of a social partner in reducing the cortisol or corticosterone response to a stressor. It has been well studied in mammals, particularly those that form pair bonds...
In mammals, human-animal bonding is recognized as a source of positive affect for companion or farm animals. Because this remains unexplored in birds, we investigated captive parrots’ perspective of the human-animal relationship. We used a...
Stone handling (SH) is a form of solitary object play that is socially learned and culturally maintained. We studied two captive groups (Modena, N = 20; Padova, N = 20) of common long-tailed macaques housed...
"Zoo animals" as a population are a diverse array of species from all around the globe. When managed in captivity, it is important that key aspects of natural ecology are factored into animal care, as...
Accredited zoos and aquariums are required to have a welfare assessment process in place for the animals in their care. However, welfare assessment theoretical frameworks and methodologies vary widely. Previous studies have shown that taxonomic...
Contemporary zoos house polar bears (Ursus maritimus) to serve the conservation efforts of these institutions. However, evidence of behavioural problems in captivity has highlighted the need for methods to assess polar bear welfare, why valid...
Tactile signals are essential for Antillean manatee communication and survival because they facilitate interactions with conspecifics and the environment. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about tactile signal usage. This study aimed to assess captive Antillean...
In recent years, there has been much research into the individual effects of enclosure complexity and visitor presence on captive animal welfare. However, the inter-linkages between enclosure complexity and visitor presence and their combined influence...
Given the increasing obligation to elevate animal welfare beyond minimum expectations, zoos need robust mechanisms to monitor physical activity and species-appropriate behaviours. This is not without challenge as animal behaviour can vary seasonally or be...