The effect of visitors on the behavior of zoo‐housed western lowland gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla ),Zoo Biology

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The effect of visitors on the behavior of zoo‐housed western lowland gorillas ( Gorilla gorilla gorilla )
Zoo Biology ( IF 1.2 ) Pub Date : 2020-08-19 , DOI: 10.1002/zoo.21552
Rebecca N Lewis _{1,

2} , Yu-Mei Chang ₃ , Amanda Ferguson ₂ , Tracey Lee ₂ , Lisa Clifforde ₂ , Siobhan M Abeyesinghe ₁

Affiliation

Primates, especially apes, are popular with the public, often attracting large crowds. These crowds could cause behavioral change in captive primates, whether positive, neutral, or negative. We examined the impact of visitors on the behavior of six western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), observing the troop over 6 weeks during high season (4.5 hr/day, 35 days, May-July 2016). We used focal scan sampling to determine activity budget and enclosure usage, and focal continuous sampling to identify bouts of anxiety-related behavior (visitor-directed vigilance, self-scratching, and aggression). Both daily zoo-entry numbers (VGATE ) and instantaneous crowds at the exhibit (VDENSITY ) were measured. Overall, VGATE had little effect across behaviors. However, consistent with the more acute time frame of measurement, VDENSITY was a better predictor of behavior; at high crowd volumes, we observed significant group-level changes in activity budget (increased inactivity, increased locomotion, and decreased environment-related behaviors), increase in some anxiety-related behaviors, and decreased enclosure usage. Although contributing similar effects, it could not be determined if crowd numbers, composition, or noise most affected the troop, nor any chronic effects of exposure to large crowds. Nevertheless, our findings suggest that measures to minimize the impacts of large crowds at the exhibit would be beneficial. Furthermore, we highlight potential discrepancies between common methods for measuring visitor numbers: VGATE is less sensitive to detecting visitor effects on behavioral indices than VDENSITY . Future studies should appropriately match the biological time frame of welfare indicators and visitor measures used to ensure the reliability of findings.

中文翻译：

游客对动物园饲养的西部低地大猩猩（大猩猩大猩猩）行为的影响

灵长类动物，尤其是猿类，很受公众欢迎，经常吸引大批人群。这些人群可能会导致圈养灵长类动物的行为改变，无论是积极的、中性的还是消极的。我们研究了游客对六只西部低地大猩猩（Gorilla gorilla gorilla）行为的影响，在旺季（2016 年 5 月至 7 月，每天 4.5 小时，35 天，35 天）期间观察了 6 周的部队。我们使用焦点扫描采样来确定活动预算和围栏使用，并使用焦点连续采样来识别与焦虑相关的行为（访客导向的警惕、自我抓挠和攻击性）。每天的动物园入场人数 (VGATE) 和展览中的瞬时人群 (VDENSITY) 都进行了测量。总体而言，VGATE 对行为的影响很小。然而，与更敏锐的测量时间框架一致，VDENSITY 是更好的行为预测指标；在高人群中，我们观察到活动预算的显着组级变化（不活动增加，运动增加，环境相关行为减少），一些焦虑相关行为增加，以及围栏使用减少。尽管产生了类似的影响，但无法确定人群数量、组成或噪音是否对部队影响最大，也无法确定暴露于大量人群中的任何慢性影响。尽管如此，我们的研究结果表明，尽量减少展览中大量人群的影响的措施将是有益的。此外，我们强调了测量访客数量的常用方法之间的潜在差异：与 VDENSITY 相比，VGATE 对检测访客对行为指数的影响不太敏感。

更新日期：2020-08-19

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