ABSTRACT

Captive animal welfare research focuses on husbandry, enrichment, enclosure space, visitor effects, and opportunities for species-typical behavior (e.g., foraging, territoriality, and social interaction). And yet, one of the most biologically relevant opportunities for species-typical behavior, parenting, has received little attention. The goal of this longitudinal investigation was to explore the differential variability of repetitive behavior across three parenting conditions (i.e., No parenting, parenting, and foster parenting) among captive, wild-rescued, North American river otters. This study represents anatural ABAC design, the conditions reflect differential parenting phases: No parenting (A), Parenting biological pups (B), and Alloparenting nonbiological pups (C). The behavior of two adult North American river otters at the Oregon Zoo were observed from April2016 through March2020 during the different parenting contexts. The frequency of repetitive behaviors was lowest during parenting and highest during the non-parenting conditions. Although data for season, weather, and visitor variables were also collected throughout this study; parenting condition was the only consistent moderator of abnormal repetitive behavior observed.

摘要

圈养动物福利研究侧重于饲养、丰容、围栏空间、游客效应和物种典型行为的机会（例如，觅食、领地和社会互动）。然而，育儿这一物种典型行为中最具生物学相关性的机会之一却很少受到关注。这项纵向调查的目的是探索圈养、野外救助的北美水獭在三种养育条件（即无养育、养育和寄养）中重复行为的差异变异性。这项研究代表了一种自然的 ABAC 设计，条件反映了不同的育儿阶段：无育儿 (A)、育儿生物幼崽 (B) 和同种异体育儿非生物幼崽 (C)。从 2016 年 4 月到 2020 年 3 月，在不同的育儿环境下观察了俄勒冈动物园两只成年北美水獭的行为。重复行为的频率在育儿期间最低，在非育儿条件下最高。尽管在整个研究过程中还收集了季节、天气和游客变量的数据；养育条件是观察到的异常重复行为的唯一一致调节剂。