Passos Luiza F, Mello Humberto Espirito Santo, Young Robert John
a Conservation, Ecology, and Animal Behavior Group, Zoology Post Graduation Program, Biological Sciences Department , Pontifícal Catholic University of Minas Gerais , Belo Horizonte , Minas Gerais , Brazil.
J Appl Anim Welf Sci. 2014;17(3):274-81. doi: 10.1080/10888705.2014.917556.
Environmental enrichment is a principle that is used to enhance the quality of care for nonhuman animals in captivity. To achieve this, it is necessary to understand the animal's needs. This study focused on color preference to provide food stimuli as a source of environmental enrichment for the tortoise, Chelonoidis denticulata. During this study, the stimuli green-, blue-, yellow-, and red-colored bananas and plaster blocks were randomly offered to the tortoises. Analysis of the data showed that the tortoises had a preference for the stimuli dyed with colors red and yellow over the other presented colors. It was possible to conclude that presenting food in different colors stimulated the animals to evaluate their environment and make choices in relation to their color preference. Thus, this experiment introduced an element of choice into their lives, beyond identifying color food preferences for the tortoises. The element of choice is known to be important to animal welfare.
环境富集是一项用于提高圈养非人类动物护理质量的原则。要实现这一点，有必要了解动物的需求。本研究聚焦于颜色偏好，以提供食物刺激作为黄斑陆龟（Chelonoidis denticulata）环境富集的一个来源。在这项研究中，绿色、蓝色、黄色和红色的香蕉及石膏块被随机提供给这些陆龟。数据分析表明，相较于其他呈现的颜色，陆龟更喜欢染成红色和黄色的刺激物。可以得出结论，以不同颜色呈现食物刺激了动物对其环境进行评估，并根据它们的颜色偏好做出选择。因此，该实验除了确定陆龟对颜色食物的偏好外，还为它们的生活引入了选择元素。已知选择元素对动物福利很重要。
