Lin Ga-Yi, Ng Keith Chi Hui, Fernandez Eduardo J
School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5371, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jun 29;15(13):1924. doi: 10.3390/ani15131924.
There is increasing recognition of the importance of human-animal interaction (HAI) research in the assessment of animal welfare. This is partly reflected by the appearance of increasing animal-visitor interaction (AVI) publications in zoos. Early AVI publications primarily focused on primates and the impact of visitors on animals (visitor effects), with most identifying negative welfare impacts. This review aims to identify trends and changes in the key factors of AVIs (e.g., types of interactions measured; taxa studied; welfare impact). Covidence online software and PRISMA were used to screen papers and extract data. A total of 157 papers comprising 314 studies were included. AVI publications have increased in the last two decades, with a large increase in publications since 2020. Most publications have focused on visitor effects, as opposed to the impact of animals on visitors (visitor experiences). Earlier visitor effect studies mostly focused on primates, while more recent studies have primarily focused on non-primate species. Excluding studies categorized as neutral, there were more visitor effect studies with measures focused on negative than positive welfare impacts. However, the last decade and a half has seen a substantial increase in visitor effect studies measuring positive welfare impacts. These results are discussed in reference to growing changes in the types of studies, species, and outcomes measured in AVIs. In addition, we consider the future of AVI research, including a growing need for and consideration of standardized welfare assessments, the increased use of experimental control, and AVIs that equally promote visitor education and positive animal welfare.
人们越来越认识到人类与动物互动（HAI）研究在动物福利评估中的重要性。这在一定程度上反映在动物园中动物与游客互动（AVI）相关出版物的不断增加上。早期的AVI出版物主要关注灵长类动物以及游客对动物的影响（游客效应），大多数研究都指出了对动物福利的负面影响。本综述旨在确定AVI关键因素的趋势和变化（例如，所测量的互动类型；研究的分类群；对福利的影响）。使用Covidence在线软件和PRISMA筛选论文并提取数据。共纳入157篇论文，包含314项研究。在过去二十年中，AVI相关出版物有所增加，自2020年以来数量大幅增长。大多数出版物关注的是游客效应，而非动物对游客的影响（游客体验）。早期的游客效应研究大多集中在灵长类动物上，而最近的研究主要关注非灵长类物种。排除归类为中性的研究后，关注负面福利影响的游客效应研究比关注正面福利影响的更多。然而，在过去十五年中，测量正面福利影响的游客效应研究大幅增加。我们结合AVI研究中类型、物种和测量结果的不断变化来讨论这些结果。此外，我们还考虑了AVI研究的未来，包括对标准化福利评估的需求不断增加以及对其的考量、实验控制的更多使用，以及能同样促进游客教育和积极动物福利的AVI。
