Clark Fay E, Fitzpatrick Malcolm, Hartley Andy, King Andrew J, Lee Tracey, Routh Andrew, Walker Susan L, George Katherine
Zoological Society of London, ZSL London Zoo, Regent's Park, London, United Kingdom.
Zoo Biol. 2012 May-Jun;31(3):306-21. doi: 10.1002/zoo.20396. Epub 2011 May 11.
Monitoring adrenal activity through noninvasive fecal hormone sampling is rapidly gaining popularity as a tool to assess zoo animal welfare. However, few studies have sought to investigate the interrelationships between behavior, adrenal activity, and environment, and ask whether both behavioral and adrenal monitoring strategies are required to assess welfare sufficiently. We present the findings of a 9-month study of a small group (one male, two females) of Western lowland gorillas, Gorilla gorilla gorilla. First, we examined the effect of environmental variables on gorilla behavior. Second, we examined the effect of environmental variables on the concentration of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGC) and the relationship between behavior and FGC. Environmental variables had similar effects on all three gorillas. Negative vigilance of visitors (NVV; staring, posturing, and charging at visitors) significantly increased in all subjects as environmental noise levels increased, and food-related behavior significantly decreased in all subjects as crowd size increased. Exhibit modifications had a number of positive effects on behavior. Notably, when privacy screens were used, NVV significantly decreased in two subjects. We found no significant effects of environmental variables on FGC. However, we did find significant relationships between behavior and FGC in one female. Specifically, her NVV was significantly higher one day before, and on the same day as, raised FGC. Also, hair plucking significantly increased in the two days following raised FGC. Overall, this study demonstrates how concurrent noninvasive fecal and behavioral monitoring can be used for gorilla welfare assessment.
通过非侵入性粪便激素采样监测肾上腺活动，作为一种评估动物园动物福利的工具正迅速受到欢迎。然而，很少有研究试图探究行为、肾上腺活动和环境之间的相互关系，以及询问是否需要行为和肾上腺监测策略来充分评估福利。我们展示了对一小群（一只雄性、两只雌性）西部低地大猩猩（Gorilla gorilla gorilla）进行的为期9个月研究的结果。首先，我们研究了环境变量对大猩猩行为的影响。其次，我们研究了环境变量对粪便糖皮质激素代谢物（FGC）浓度的影响以及行为与FGC之间的关系。环境变量对所有三只大猩猩都有类似的影响。随着环境噪音水平的增加，所有受试者对游客的负面警惕行为（NVV；盯着、摆姿势和冲向游客）显著增加，随着人群规模的增加，所有受试者与食物相关的行为显著减少。展览改造对行为有许多积极影响。值得注意的是，当使用隐私屏风时，两名受试者的NVV显著降低。我们发现环境变量对FGC没有显著影响。然而，我们确实在一只雌性大猩猩身上发现了行为与FGC之间的显著关系。具体来说，在FGC升高前一天和当天，她的NVV显著更高。此外，在FGC升高后的两天里，拔毛行为显著增加。总体而言，这项研究展示了如何同时进行非侵入性粪便和行为监测以用于大猩猩福利评估。
