Szendrő Zsolt, Łapiński Stanisław, Matics Zsolt, Gerencsér Zsolt
Institute of Physiology and Nutrition, Kaposvár Campus, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 7400 Kaposvár, Hungary.
Department of Zoology and Animal Welfare, University of Agriculture in Krakow, 31120 Kraków, Poland.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Nov 22;14(23):3368. doi: 10.3390/ani14233368.
The study aimed to investigate adult chinchillas' preferences when choosing between cages with different floor areas, heights, or both. The size of the cages with a larger floor area was double that of the standard-sized cages in the farms (0.25 and 0.50 m), while their height was 2.4 times that of the standard-sized cages (0.4 and 1 m). The chinchillas (10-14 in each cohort) were housed in blocks of cages where they could move freely between the smaller and larger cages. The chinchillas' location preferences were monitored continuously over five days using infrared video recording. The chinchillas were observed in the cages with smaller floor areas 1.9 and 2.7 times more frequently than in the larger ones ( < 0.001) during the dark (active) and light (resting) periods of the day, respectively. When the cage height was 0.4 m, they chose it 3.4 and 6.7 times more frequently, respectively, than the cage that was 1 m high ( < 0.001). When both the floor size and the height were increased, the chinchillas still favored the smaller and lower cages ( < 0.001). The study findings suggest that adult chinchillas show a preference for smaller and shorter cages when the small and large cages are not environment enrichment barren, especially during the rest period of the day, even when the floor area, height, or both are increased. In the future, it would be important to investigate different forms of cage enrichment.
该研究旨在调查成年龙猫在不同占地面积、高度或两者兼具的笼子之间进行选择时的偏好。占地面积较大的笼子大小是养殖场标准尺寸笼子（0.25平方米和0.50平方米）的两倍，而其高度是标准尺寸笼子（0.4米和1米）的2.4倍。龙猫（每组10 - 14只）被安置在笼子组中，它们可以在较小和较大的笼子之间自由移动。使用红外视频记录，在五天时间里持续监测龙猫的位置偏好。在白天的黑暗（活跃）和明亮（休息）时段，分别观察到龙猫在占地面积较小的笼子里的出现频率比在较大笼子里高1.9倍和2.7倍（<0.001）。当笼子高度为0.4米时，它们选择该笼子的频率分别比1米高的笼子高3.4倍和6.7倍（<0.001）。当占地面积和高度都增加时，龙猫仍然更喜欢较小和较低的笼子（<0.001）。研究结果表明，当大小笼子并非环境贫瘠的富集环境时，成年龙猫表现出对较小和较矮笼子的偏好，尤其是在白天的休息时段，即使占地面积、高度或两者都增加了也是如此。未来，研究不同形式的笼子富集将很重要。
