Sakuraba Yoko, Tomonaga Masaki, Hayashi Misato
Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2, Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 5-3-1, Kojimachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, 102-0083, Japan.
Primates. 2016 Jul;57(3):403-12. doi: 10.1007/s10329-016-0541-3. Epub 2016 May 5.
There are few studies of long-term care and rehabilitation of animals which acquired physical disabilities in captivity, despite their importance for welfare. An adult male chimpanzee named Reo at the Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University, developed acute myelitis, inflammation of the spinal cord, which resulted in impaired leg function. This report describes a walking rehabilitation system set up in a rehabilitation room where he lives. The rehabilitation apparatus consisted of a touch monitor presenting cognitive tasks and a feeder presenting food rewards at a distance of two meters from the monitor, to encourage him to walk between the monitor and the feeder repeatedly. Initially, Reo did not touch the monitor, therefore we needed adjustment of the apparatus and procedure. After the habituation to the monitor and cognitive tasks, he started to show behaviors of saving food rewards without walking, or stopping participation to the rehabilitation. Finally it took seven phases of the adjustment to determine the final setting; when the monitor automatically displayed trials in 4-h, AM (1000-1200 hours) and PM (1400-1600 hours) sessions through a day, Reo spontaneously walked from the monitor to the feeder to receive rewards, and returned to the monitor to perform the next trial. Comparison of Reo's locomotion in a no-task period and under the final setting revealed that the total travel distance increased from 136.7 to 506.3 m, movement patterns became multiple, and the percentage of walking increased from 1.2 to 27.2 % in PM session. The findings of this case study suggest that cognitive tasks may be a useful way to rehabilitate physically disabled chimpanzees, and thus improve their welfare in captivity.
尽管对动物福利很重要，但关于圈养中身体残疾动物的长期护理和康复的研究却很少。京都大学灵长类动物研究所的一只名叫雷欧的成年雄性黑猩猩患上了急性脊髓炎，即脊髓炎症，导致腿部功能受损。本报告描述了在它居住的康复室中建立的一个行走康复系统。康复设备包括一个呈现认知任务的触摸显示器和一个在距离显示器两米处提供食物奖励的喂食器，以鼓励它在显示器和喂食器之间反复行走。最初，雷欧不触碰显示器，因此我们需要对设备和程序进行调整。在适应了显示器和认知任务后，它开始表现出不走路就储存食物奖励的行为，或者停止参与康复训练。最终经过七个阶段的调整确定了最终设置；当显示器在一天中的上午（1000 - 1200小时）和下午（1400 - 1600小时）时段自动显示试验时，雷欧会自发地从显示器走到喂食器接受奖励，然后回到显示器进行下一次试验。对雷欧在无任务期和最终设置下的运动情况进行比较发现，总行进距离从136.7米增加到了506.3米，运动模式变得多样，并且在下午时段行走的百分比从1.2%增加到了27.2%。该案例研究的结果表明，认知任务可能是使身体残疾的黑猩猩康复并从而改善它们圈养生活福利的一种有用方法。
