DePasquale Cairsty, Sturgill Jennifer, Braithwaite Victoria A
Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University - Altoona;
Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University - Altoona.
J Vis Exp. 2020 Feb 22(156). doi: 10.3791/60674.
Animal welfare assessment techniques try to take into consideration the specific needs and wants of the animal in question. Providing enrichment (the addition of physical objects or conspecifics in the housing environment) is often a way to give captive animals the opportunity to choose who or what they interact with and how they spend their time. A fundamental component of the aquatic environment that is often overlooked in captivity, however, is the ability for the animal to choose to engage in physical exercise. For many animals, including fish, exercise is an important aspect of their life history, and is known to have many health benefits, including positive changes in the brain and behavior. Here we present a method for assessing habitat preferences in captive animals. The protocol could easily be adapted to look at a variety of environmental factors (e.g., gravel versus sand as a substrate, plastic plants versus live plants, low flow versus high flow of water) in different aquatic species, or for use with terrestrial species. Statistical assessment of preference is carried out using Jacob's preference index, which ranks the habitats from -1 (avoidance) to +1 (most preferred). With this information, it can be determined what the animal wants from a welfare perspective, including their preferred location.
动物福利评估技术试图考虑相关动物的特定需求和偏好。提供环境富集（在饲养环境中添加实物或同种动物）通常是一种让圈养动物有机会选择与谁互动、与什么互动以及如何打发时间的方式。然而，在圈养环境中，水生环境的一个经常被忽视的基本要素是动物选择进行体育锻炼的能力。对于许多动物，包括鱼类来说，锻炼是它们生活史的一个重要方面，并且已知有许多健康益处，包括大脑和行为方面的积极变化。在此，我们提出一种评估圈养动物栖息地偏好的方法。该方案可以很容易地适用于研究不同水生物种的各种环境因素（例如，作为基质的砾石与沙子、塑料植物与活植物、低水流与高水流），或用于陆生物种。使用雅各布偏好指数对偏好进行统计评估，该指数将栖息地从 -1（回避）到 +1（最偏好）进行排序。有了这些信息，就可以从福利角度确定动物想要什么，包括它们喜欢的位置。
