Lawrence Kristie, Sherwen Sally L, Larsen Hannah
Wild Sea, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia.
Wildlife Conservation and Science, Zoos Victoria, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Oct 15;11(10):2979. doi: 10.3390/ani11102979.
This study investigated the behaviour of two Elasmobranch species; Southern fiddler ray (, = 1) and Port Jackson shark (, = 4) and two teleost species; moonlighter (, = 1) and banded morwong (, = 1) living within a single enclosure. For this study, two treatments were compared, the original enclosure design, and then after the enclosure had been renovated to more closely represent the species natural habitats, with a raised front viewing glass to prevent visitor interaction. Behaviours such as resting, swimming and abnormal behaviours such as surface and perimeter swimming (elasmobranchs only) were recorded as well as location within the enclosure, for 10 days pre and 10 days post renovation. The Port Jackson sharks significantly reduced the performance of abnormal behaviours after renovation, and significantly increased the time spent near the exhibit front. The Southern fiddler ray increased resting post renovation, while the teleost species also spent more time near the exhibit front. Although a small sample size was used, the results suggest that a more naturalistic environment with multiple micro-habitats and effective visitor barriers allows for a greater proportion of the day spent exhibiting natural behaviours, greater space use and reduced stereotypes.
本研究调查了生活在单个围栏内的两种软骨鱼类，即南方琴鲼（n = 1）和杰克逊港鲨（n = 4），以及两种硬骨鱼类，即月光鱼（n = 1）和带状莫氏鱼（n = 1）的行为。在本研究中，比较了两种处理方式，即原始围栏设计，以及在围栏翻新后更接近物种自然栖息地的设计，翻新后的围栏有一个抬高的前观景玻璃以防止游客互动。记录了翻新前10天和翻新后10天的休息、游泳等行为，以及硬骨鱼类特有的水面和周边游动等异常行为，同时记录了围栏内的位置。翻新后，杰克逊港鲨的异常行为显著减少，在展品前端附近停留的时间显著增加。南方琴鲼在翻新后休息时间增加，硬骨鱼类在展品前端附近停留的时间也更多。尽管样本量较小，但结果表明，具有多个微生境和有效游客屏障的更自然的环境能够让它们在一天中更多时间表现出自然行为，有更大的空间利用度并减少刻板行为。
