Posted on 09/08/2022 12:45:36 PM PDT by Red Badger
We all had to make adjustments as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded – even zoo animals who were suddenly not seeing crowds of visitors pass by every single day. A new study shows how primates reacted to that shift.
The research looked at bonobos, chimpanzees, western lowland gorillas and olive baboons, finding that these animals changed their habits in a variety of ways, including the amount of time they spent resting and eating.
Visitor interactions are thought to be crucial to the welfare of zoo animals. Yet these interactions have the potential to be either positive or negative. So the researchers were keen to see the difference when the crowds weren't there.
"Primates are some of the most cognitively advanced species in zoos and their interactions with visitors are complex," says zoo animal welfare scientist Samantha Ward, from Nottingham Trent University in the UK.
"A limitation to understanding how visitors can affect behavior of animals in zoos and parks is that they rarely close to the public for prolonged periods, so this provided us with a unique opportunity."
Observations were recorded at Twycross Zoo and Knowsley Safari in the UK, both before and after visitors returned.
Over several months and multiple open and closure periods, there were noticeable changes in primate behavior, which varied depending on the animal.
As visitors began to return to the zoo, the bonobos and gorillas spent less time alone, while the gorillas also spent less time resting. Chimpanzees, meanwhile, were eating more and engaging with their enclosures more when zoos reopened.
The olive baboons in the safari park were seen to engage in less sexual and dominance behavior when the visitors came back. They also tended to approach visitor cars more often, compared with the ranger vehicles they saw when the park was closed.
Whether or not these changes were positive is more difficult to say.
The researchers suggest that the returning visitors seemed to stimulate the chimpanzees and baboons, while gorillas and bonobos spending less time alone could also be viewed as positive.
At the same time, it could be argued that gorillas – naturally more sedentary animals – were disrupted by the crowds in that they spent less time resting.
That the gorillas changed the parts of their enclosures they spent the most time in when visitors came back suggests that the animals can to some extent manage this disruption.
"Behavioral changes and changes in enclosure use in the presence of visitors highlights the adaptability of zoo species to their environments," says zoo animal welfare researcher Ellen Williams, from Harper Adams University in the UK.
"Provision of environments which enable animals to actively adapt in this manner is really important for their welfare."
The team also observed that there was a visitor number threshold when it came to olive baboons, beyond which the animals stopped becoming increasingly active and stimulated by the passing cars in the safari park.
This is all valuable data for animal welfare researchers, who know that visitors can have all kinds of effects on wildlife – from adding feelings of companionship and safety, to being sources of annoyance or even threats. This needs to be factored into how zoos and parks are run and designed.
While there might not be any more lockdowns in the foreseeable future, the research team wants to continue the work of studying how visitor numbers affect animal behavior, including collecting data involving more animals and across a longer time scale.
"Future work could involve looking at the impact on a wider range of species in both zoos and safari parks as well as differences among individual animals," says Williams.
The research has been published in Animals.
I find the two-legged animals on the street are also acting differently since COVID and the vaxxes
Meanwhile the Big Cats...didn’t care. 🦁🐯
The animals probably thought the humans finally wiped each other out and now there are probably no humans to deliver food.
Not because of physical visitors but the talking magic window in their enclosures that they obey.
It seems to me that ‘human watching’ would be engaging enrichment for primates living in cages and habitat enclosures.
Sounds like they just don’t like to have sex in front of people. Which is more than I can say for Hollywierd.
For the animals it was probably like watching TV all day................
“...the gorillas changed the parts of their enclosures they spent the most time in...”
Just like the humans that did a lot of home renovations while they were stuck at home.
It’s hardly any different than how much your hound dog misses you when you’ve been gone for awhile——the slobbers——ohhhh, the slobbers.
And they started to gather for backgammon, card games and beer on Friday nights!
Lion: “Are those dreadful humans coming back soon?”
Tiger: “That’s what I heard. Ughh... three no trump!”
The Lord says to love your neighbor. Proof positive here.
Something I was taught fifty years in a sociology class in Community College..
If a scientist wishes to observe a native tribe they must visit that tribe or else they will not get a true look at how that tribe lives.
BUT if they DO visit that tribe then their very presence will cause a change in what the natives do, giving you a false impression of how they live.
Sounds like the same for animals.
Man is at the top of the heap…thanks to God…and other animals depend on us to “humanize” them, that is, make them sociable creatures with their space in human society.
I think a lot of large animals that were too big to actually live with humans had become dependent on us, and when we went away suddenly, it was a disaster for them. Think of horses never being visited or ridden but standing in their pasture all day, maybe with somebody coming in masked to throw them food…
Animals, even zoo animals, that have regular contact with humans develop a somewhat expanded ability to connect with us (that doesn’t mean that the tiger won’t still be dangerous!). And when that goes away, they drop into the wild animal state again.
We have to remember that all of Creation actually depends on us, but not the way the green freaks have it…God put us in charge of the garden and told us to increase and multiply, and that the other animals would be subject to us.
Uh huh, bet the ones in the zoo are better behaved.
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