Casting the Net Widely for Change in Animal Welfare: The Plight of Birds in Zoos, Ex Situ Conservation, and Conservation Fieldwork

Comparative Analysis of Gut Microbiota between Captive and Wild Long-Tailed Gorals for Ex Situ Conservation

The long-tailed goral is close to extinction, and ex situ conservation is essential to prevent this phenomenon. Studies on the gut microbiome of the long-tailed goral are important for understanding the ecology of this species. We amplified DNA from the 16S rRNA regions and compared the microbiomes of wild long-tailed gorals and two types of captive long-tailed gorals. Our findings revealed that the gut microbiome diversity of wild long-tailed gorals is greatly reduced when they are reared in captivity. A comparison of the two types of captive long-tailed gorals confirmed that animals with a more diverse diet exhibit greater gut microbiome diversity. Redundancy analysis confirmed that wild long-tailed gorals are distributed throughout the highlands, midlands, and lowlands. For the first time, it was revealed that the long-tailed goral are divided into three groups depending on the height of their habitat, and that the gut bacterial community changes significantly when long-tailed gorals are raised through ex situ conservation. This provides for the first time a perspective on the diversity of food plants associated with mountain height that will be available to long-tailed goral in the future.

Visual lateralization in the sky: Geese manifest visual lateralization when flying with pair mates

The brain's sensory lateralization involves the processing of information from the sensory organs primarily in one hemisphere. This can improve brain efficiency by reducing interference and duplication of neural circuits. For species that rely on successful interaction among family partners, such as geese, lateralization can be advantageous. However, at the group level, one-sided biases in sensory lateralization can make individuals predictable to competitors and predators. We investigated lateral preferences in the positioning of pair mates of Greater white-fronted geese Anser albifrons albifrons. Using GPS-GSM trackers, we monitored individual geese in flight throughout the year. Our findings indicate that geese exhibit individual lateral biases when viewing their mate in flight, but the direction of these biases varies among individuals. We suggest that these patterns of visual lateralization could be an adaptive trait for the species with long-term social monogamy, high levels of interspecies communication and competition, and high levels of predator and hunting pressure.

Handling and Training of Wild Animals: Evidence and Ethics-Based Approaches and Best Practices in the Modern Zoo

There is an ethical responsibility to provide all animals living in human care with optimal and positive well-being. As animals living in zoos and aquariums frequently interact with their human caregivers as part of their daily care routines, it is both relevant and essential to consider the impact of these interactions on animal well-being. Allowing animals to have choice and control in multiple areas of their lives, such as by providing opportunities for them to voluntarily participate in their own care through, for example, positive reinforcement training, is an essential component of good animal well-being programs. This review aims to describe evidence-based approaches, ethics, and best practices in the handling and training of the many taxa held in zoos and aquariums worldwide, drawing from work in related animal care fields such as laboratories, farms, rescue, and sanctuaries. The importance of ongoing animal well-being assessments is discussed, with a particular focus on the need for continued review and refinement of processes and procedures pertaining to animal training and handling specifically. Review, enquiry, assessment, evaluation, and refinement will aim to dynamically support positive well-being for all animals.

Ecoinformatic Analysis of the Gut Ecological Diversity of Wild and Captive Long-Tailed Gorals Using Improved ITS2 Region Primers to Support Their Conservation

Ex situ conservation is used to protect endangered wildlife. As captive and wild long-tailed gorals are known to be similar, individuals under ex situ conservation can be reintroduced into nature. However, there is no appropriate indicator to evaluate them. Here, we amplified the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region and compared the gut ecological information (eco-information) of captive and wild long-tailed gorals. We validated the existing ITS86F and ITS4 universal primers using reference sequences of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) and improved their matching rates. We compared the gut eco-information of captive and wild long-tailed gorals obtained through experiments using the improved primer pair and found that the gut ecological diversity of captive gorals was low. Based on this, we suggested that the gut eco-information can be used as an evaluation index before reintroducing captive long-tailed gorals. Furthermore, we identified four plant types from the gut eco-information of wild long-tailed gorals, which can be the additional food sources to enhance the reduced intestinal ecological diversity of the captive animals.

Review of the Effects of Enclosure Complexity and Design on the Behaviour and Physiology of Zoo Animals

The complexity of the habitat refers to its physical geometry, which includes abiotic and biotic elements. Habitat complexity is important because it allows more species to coexist and, consequently, more interactions to be established among them. The complexity of the habitat links the physical structure of the enclosure to the biological interactions, which occur within its limits. Enclosure complexity should vary temporally, to be able to influence the animals in different ways, depending on the period of the day and season and throughout the year. In the present paper, we discuss how habitat complexity is important, and how it can positively influence the physical and mental states of zoo animals. We show how habitat complexity can ultimately affect educational projects. Finally, we discuss how we can add complexity to enclosures and, thus, make the lives of animals more interesting and functional.

Training in the Dark: Using Target Training for Non-Invasive Application and Validation of Accelerometer Devices for an Endangered Primate (Nycticebus bengalensis)

Simple Summary

Recent advances in technology allow for the study of animal behaviours through indirect observations. This facilitates research on cryptic animals for which direct observations may miss a considerable portion of their activity. The validity of accelerometers in obtaining accurate animal behaviours, however, needs to be tested before collecting data in the wild. Modern zoos offer excellent opportunities for researchers to test field techniques in a safe setting. Here, we describe a non-invasive training program to attach an accelerometer to an individual Bengal slow loris at the Shaldon Wildlife Trust. This training took 39 15-min sessions and allowed for the attachment of the accelerometer for validation with reduced stress for the animal. We also collected videos to associate to accelerometer data to estimate the accuracy of accelerometers in identifying the behaviours of Bengal slow loris. The accuracy was above 80% with some of the behaviours that were clearly identified (e.g., resting: 99.8%), while others were more difficult to discern (e.g., suspensory walk, a locomotion behaviour, was discerned only 60.3% of times from other behaviours). The non-invasive training and accelerometer validation can be used on similar species before using accelerometers in the wild.

Abstract

Accelerometers offer unique opportunities to study the behaviour of cryptic animals but require validation to show their accuracy in identifying behaviours. This validation is often undertaken in captivity before use in the wild. While zoos provide important opportunities for trial field techniques, they must consider the welfare and health of the individuals in their care and researchers must opt for the least invasive techniques. We used positive reinforcement training to attach and detach a collar with an accelerometer to an individual Bengal slow loris (Nycticebus bengalensis) at the Shaldon Wildlife Trust, U.K. This allowed us to collect accelerometer data at different periods between January–June 2020 and January–February 2021, totalling 42 h of data with corresponding video for validation. Of these data, we selected 54 min where ten behaviours were present and ran a random forest model. We needed 39 15-min sessions to train the animal to wear/remove the collar. The accelerometer data had an accuracy of 80.7 ± SD 9.9% in predicting the behaviours, with 99.8% accuracy in predicting resting, and a lower accuracy (but still >75% for all of them apart from suspensory walk) for the different types of locomotion and feeding behaviours. This training and validation technique can be used in similar species and shows the importance of working with zoos for in situ conservation (e.g., validation of field techniques).