Vonk Jennifer, Truax Jordyn, McGuire Molly C
Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, USA.
Zoo Miami, Miami, FL 33177, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Mar 9;12(6):685. doi: 10.3390/ani12060685.
Decisions about which foods to use during training and enrichment for captive animals may be based on invalid assumptions about individuals' preferences. It is important to assess the stability of food preferences given that one-time preferences are often used to inform which items are offered over a longer period of time. Presenting preference assessments using images of food items allows control over factors such as size, scent, and inadvertent cueing but requires validation. We presented three male gorillas with choices between randomly selected pairs of actual food items from their morning meal using PVC feeders. We also presented the gorillas with two-alternative forced-choice tests between images of these foods on a touchscreen computer. Ranked preferences were correlated across method and seasons. Furthermore, gorillas selected images of preferred over less preferred foods in a validation task on the touchscreen. However, selections of some food items changed within sessions, suggesting that preference may be relative to other contextual factors. Researchers should assess how choices affect subsequent preferences to understand whether animals demonstrate absolute preferences for particular food items, or prefer variety.
关于圈养动物训练和丰富活动期间使用哪些食物的决策，可能基于对个体偏好的无效假设。鉴于一次性偏好常被用于确定较长时期内提供哪些食物，评估食物偏好的稳定性很重要。使用食物图片进行偏好评估可以控制诸如大小、气味和无意暗示等因素，但需要进行验证。我们使用PVC喂食器，让三只雄性大猩猩从它们早餐中随机挑选的成对实际食物之间进行选择。我们还在触摸屏电脑上让大猩猩在这些食物的图片之间进行二选一的强制选择测试。不同方法和季节的偏好排名具有相关性。此外，在触摸屏上的验证任务中，大猩猩选择了更喜欢的食物而非不太喜欢的食物的图片。然而，某些食物的选择在各场次中发生了变化，这表明偏好可能与其他情境因素有关。研究人员应评估选择如何影响后续偏好，以了解动物是对特定食物表现出绝对偏好，还是更喜欢多样化。
