van Himbeeck Robbert A F, Huizinga Willeke, Roessink Ivo, Peeters Edwin T H M
Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University & Research Center, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Royal Burgers' Zoo, Arnhem, The Netherlands.
Zoo Biol. 2019 Aug;38(4):343-354. doi: 10.1002/zoo.21488. Epub 2019 May 6.
Zoos increasingly transform their exhibitions from traditional one-species enclosures to more natural exhibits, that is, environments that capture part of an ecosystem including a selection of animals and plants that occur there. Thus, enhancing the experience of its human visitors while also allowing its residents to possibly show more natural behavior. In 2017 Royal Burger's Zoo (Arnhem, The Netherlands) created and opened a mangrove-like environment containing fiddler crabs. Fiddler crabs display a broad range of behaviors, and this research examines which wild-type behavior and behavioral patterns can be observed on a seminatural mudflat. The behavior shown by Uca rapax and Uca tangeri on the mudflat was counted each hour between 07:00 and 17:00. An asymmetric tidal regime was present in the enclosure including two high water periods. Various known fiddler crab behaviors, including waving and combat, were observed but no copulation. A clear pattern in exposed crabs on the mudflat was found, with low numbers visible in the early morning and the highest numbers present in the early afternoon, while number of visitors did not have a significant effect on this pattern. Interestingly, the highest abundances were not observed around the ebbing tide (07:00-09:00), as observed in the wild, but somewhat later, possibly due to the asymmetric tidal scheme or the interaction of tidal and daily rhythms. This study shows that in captivity, fiddler crabs indeed show a range of natural behaviors which is linked to the tidal and possibly daily rhythm as well.
动物园越来越多地将其展览从传统的单一物种围栏转变为更自然的展示形式，也就是说，营造出能够捕捉部分生态系统的环境，其中包括在该生态系统中自然存在的多种动植物。这样一来，既能提升人类游客的参观体验，又能让园内动物展现出更自然的行为。2017年，荷兰阿纳姆的皇家布尔格动物园打造并开放了一个类似红树林的环境，里面饲养着招潮蟹。招潮蟹会展现出丰富多样的行为，本研究旨在探究在半自然的泥滩上可以观察到哪些野生型行为及行为模式。在07:00至17:00之间，每隔一小时统计一次招潮蟹（Uca rapax和Uca tangeri）在泥滩上的行为表现。围栏内呈现出不对称的潮汐状态，包括两个涨潮期。观察到了各种已知的招潮蟹行为，如挥舞和争斗，但未观察到交配行为。发现泥滩上暴露在外的招潮蟹数量呈现出明显的模式，清晨数量较少，午后数量最多，而游客数量对这一模式没有显著影响。有趣的是，与在野外观察到的情况不同，涨潮时（07:00 - 09:00）并没有出现最高数量的招潮蟹，数量峰值出现的时间有所延迟，这可能是由于不对称的潮汐模式或潮汐与昼夜节律的相互作用所致。这项研究表明，在圈养环境中，招潮蟹确实会展现出一系列自然行为，这些行为与潮汐以及可能的昼夜节律都有关联。
