Northey Emily J, Craft Baine B, Fernandez Eduardo J
Department of Research Psychology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, WA 98119, USA.
School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Oct 28;12(21):2962. doi: 10.3390/ani12212962.
Modern zoos and aquariums are defined by several primary goals, which include improving the welfare of their animals, public education, and inspiring visitors to develop an interest in conservation. Animal-Visitor Interactions (AVIs) (i.e., the impact of captive animals and visitors on each other) are a primary means to study these goals. The introduction of new animals into two seal exhibits-the harbor and northern fur seals-at the Seattle Aquarium presented a valuable opportunity to assess the impacts of introductions on the currently exhibited animals and aquarium visitors. The impacts of animal introductions were measured through direct observations of seal activity (i.e., ethogram behavioral observations) and visitor activity (i.e., crowd size and visitor length of stay) before and after new seal introductions. This study consisted of two experiments: Experiment 1 (Harbor seal exhibit) and Experiment 2 (Northern fur seal exhibit). In Experiment 1, we found that the introduction had few impacts on the existing harbor seals or on visitor activity. In Experiment 2, the introduction of a new fur seal had significant positive impacts on the existing fur seal, as was seen through increased social behaviors and decreased stereotypic behaviors, as well as a significant increase in crowd size post-introduction. Based on these findings, new animal introductions were associated with neutral to positive changes in both seal and visitor activity. Findings from this study suggest that studying new animal introductions can result in better understanding and promoting positive interactions with existing animals (introduction effects) and likewise positive experiences for zoo and aquarium visitors (introduction experiences).
现代动物园和水族馆有几个主要目标，包括改善动物福利、公众教育以及激发游客对保护工作产生兴趣。动物与游客互动（AVIs，即圈养动物和游客对彼此的影响）是研究这些目标的主要手段。将新动物引入西雅图水族馆的两个海豹展区——港海豹展区和北海狗展区——为评估引入新动物对当前展出动物和水族馆游客的影响提供了一个宝贵机会。通过在新海豹引入前后直接观察海豹活动（即行为图谱行为观察）和游客活动（即人群规模和游客停留时间）来衡量动物引入的影响。本研究包括两个实验：实验1（港海豹展区）和实验2（北海狗展区）。在实验1中，我们发现引入新动物对现有的港海豹或游客活动几乎没有影响。在实验2中，引入一只新海狗对现有的海狗产生了显著的积极影响，表现为社交行为增加、刻板行为减少，以及引入后人群规模显著增加。基于这些发现，引入新动物与海豹和游客活动的中性到积极变化相关。本研究结果表明，研究新动物引入可以更好地理解并促进与现有动物的积极互动（引入效应），同样也能为动物园和水族馆游客带来积极体验（引入体验）。
