Using Qualitative Behaviour Assessment to Investigate Human-Animal Relationships in Zoo-Housed Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)

Qualitative behavioral assessment of dogs with acute pain

Free Choice Profiling (FCP) methodology allows observers to qualitatively assess animal behavior using their own vocabulary. This study aims to investigate the ability of 3 different observer groups to recognize pain-related emotions in 20 dogs using FCP methodology, and to compare FCP data with the Glasgow Composite Pain Scale-Short Form (GCPS- SF) scores. The observer groups consisted of 10 dog owners, 10 veterinary students and 10 veterinarians. Ten healthy ("healthy") dogs and 10 dogs showing clinical signs of pain ("pain") were filmed, and the resulting 20 footages were shown to observers who were blind to the pain-related nature of the study. All observers described and scored animals' emotional expression using FCP; then, students and veterinarians scored all dogs using GCPS- SF. FCP data were analyzed using Generalized Procrustes Analysis (GPA). Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ) was used to determine the correlation among observer groups' FCP scores of the first two FCP dimensions (DIM1 and DIM2), and to compare GCPS-SF scores with FCP scores for the students and veterinarian observer groups. Each observer group reached a significant (p < 0.001) good consensus profile. "Healthy" dogs were mainly described as "quiet" and "lively", while the majority of "pain" dogs were considered "in pain" and "suffering". The correlation among FCP scores was high between owners' DIM1 and students' DIM1 (ρ = -0.86), owners' DIM2 and students' DIM2 (ρ = 0.72) and students' DIM2 and vets' DIM1 (ρ = 0.70). The correlation between GCPS-SF scores and FCP scores was high for students' DIM2 (ρ = 0.77) and for veterinarians' DIM1 (ρ = 0.92). Qualitative methods such as FCP could be used in association with semi-quantitative methods to evaluate the effect of pain on animal emotional expression. Observers' cultural background and personal experience did not substantially affect qualitative behavioral assessment in dogs with acute somatic pain.

Qualitative Behavioural Assessment of bonobo emotional expressivity across observer groups and zoo housing environments

Human evaluation of animal emotional expressivity can inform animal welfare. Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) has been applied to domesticated and some non-domesticated animals, but its use in primates is limited despite their emotional expressivity. We aimed to develop and apply a QBA for bonobos (Pan paniscus) through two consecutive studies. We applied Free Choice Profiling (FCP) and the Fixed List methodology, respectively, in Study 1 and 2, and invited students and bonobo experts to rate video clips of zoo-living bonobos of different sexes and age classes, and before and after moving to a new enclosure. In Study 1, students described dimension 1 as ranging from 'quiet/calm' to 'angry/active' and dimension 2 from 'sad/anxious' to 'happy/loving'. Experts described dimension 1 ranging from 'quiet/relaxed' to 'nervous/alert' and dimension 2 from 'nervous/bored' to 'playful/happy'. Using a fixed list of descriptors, informed by findings from Study 1, students in Study 2 described dimension 1 as ranging from 'quiet/calm' to 'agitated/frustrated', and dimension 2 from 'sad/stressed' to 'happy/positively engaged'. Experts described dimension 1 as ranging from 'quiet/calm' to 'active/excited', and dimension 2 from 'sad/bored' to 'happy/positively engaged'. Students scored adults as more 'calm/quiet' and experts scored subadults as more 'happy/positively engaged'. Additionally, experts in Study 2 rated bonobos as more 'active/excited' in their new enclosure. Reliability was moderate to good for the dimensions. Additionally, animal-directed empathy of observers influenced QBA scores. This is the first time, FCP has been successfully used as a method to study primate emotional expressivity. Our findings show the promise of employing QBA in primate studies and in industry, with validation of additional metrics to enable its use for welfare-monitoring purposes.

Dolphin-WET-Development of a Welfare Evaluation Tool for Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) under Human Care

Ensuring high standards of animal welfare is not only an ethical duty for zoos and aquariums, but it is also essential to achieve their conservation, education, and research goals. While for some species, animal welfare assessment frameworks are already in place, little has been done for marine animals under human care. Responding to this demand, the welfare committee of the European Association for Aquatic Mammals (EAAM) set up a group of experts on welfare science, cetacean biology, and zoo animal medicine across Europe. Their objective was to develop a comprehensive tool to evaluate the welfare of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), named Dolphin-WET. The tool encompasses 49 indicators that were either validated through peer review or management-based expertise. The first of its kind, the Dolphin-WET is a species-specific welfare assessment tool that provides a holistic approach to evaluating dolphin welfare. Inspired by Mellor's Five Domains Model and the Welfare Quality®, its hierarchical structure allows for detailed assessments from overall welfare down to specific indicators. Through combining 37 animal-based and 12 resource-based indicators that are evaluated based on a two- or three-level scoring, the protocol offers a detailed evaluation of individual dolphins. This approach allows for regular internal monitoring and targeted welfare management, enabling caretakers to address specific welfare concerns effectively.

Finding biomarkers of experience in animals

At a time when there is a growing public interest in animal welfare, it is critical to have objective means to assess the way that an animal experiences a situation. Objectivity is critical to ensure appropriate animal welfare outcomes. Existing behavioural, physiological, and neurobiological indicators that are used to assess animal welfare can verify the absence of extremely negative outcomes. But welfare is more than an absence of negative outcomes and an appropriate indicator should reflect the full spectrum of experience of an animal, from negative to positive. In this review, we draw from the knowledge of human biomedical science to propose a list of candidate biological markers (biomarkers) that should reflect the experiential state of non-human animals. The proposed biomarkers can be classified on their main function as endocrine, oxidative stress, non-coding molecular, and thermobiological markers. We also discuss practical challenges that must be addressed before any of these biomarkers can become useful to assess the experience of an animal in real-life.

The Power Is in the Word-Do Laypeople Interpret Descriptors of Dog Emotional States Correctly?

A basic understanding of dog behaviour and emotion is relevant not only for professionals, such as veterinary personnel or dog trainers, but also for dog owners and for people with little contact with dogs. Information about dog behaviour and emotions is mostly conveyed verbally. This study explores whether definitions of dog behaviour and emotion are understood in such a way that they can be allocated to a descriptor (i.e., a label such as "fearful"), even by people with low background knowledge. If people can match descriptors to definitions, this suggests that the definitions are distinct enough and elicit mental representations of behaviour that can fit the label. Good agreement on the definitions is a prerequisite for the validity of the descriptors used; however, no study to date has tested this. A sample of 236 adults was asked to match descriptors of Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) for veterinary and shelter situations to their correct definitions, e.g., the descriptor "fearful" to its definition "dog may try to flee, hide or freeze; ears back". Matching was substantially above chance; nonetheless, the mean proportion of correct responses was only 50% (SD ± 16.6%) for the veterinary QBA set and 33% (SD ± 14.3%) for the shelter QBA set. Performance in the matching task was positively correlated with measures of experience with dogs. Taken together, the results suggest that descriptor-definition pairs used to describe dog behaviour need to be clearly defined to avoid misinterpretations when teaching laypeople how to interpret canine behaviour.

Impact of alternating overnight housing conditions on welfare measures in a bachelor group of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Spatial parameters and design of overnight housing spaces can have significant influences on both nocturnal and diurnal behaviors of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in captivity. This is especially true for bachelor groups, as adult males have demonstrated a greater tendency to separate from conspecifics overnight. Additionally, previous studies have suggested that the social needs of individuals in bachelor units may shift over time. The bachelor unit at the Detroit Zoo is managed in a unique hybrid strategy in which the group is housed socially for three nights (either indoors or indoors with outdoor access), then separately on the fourth. A 2016 study of this group (n = 3) suggested that individuals had better welfare following social overnight housing as compared to solitary overnight housing. We aimed to reassess how overnight housing conditions affect individual welfare several years later. We revised a previously developed qualitative behavioral assessment tool that included 13 behavioral items spanning both positive and negative indicators of welfare. Animal care staff completed the assessment and collected a fecal sample every day for each gorilla for a period of 3 months. We used Kruskal-Wallis tests to analyze variation in behavioral items and FGMs between conditions. We then used generalized linear mixed models to identify whether overnight housing condition or other potentially confounding variables were driving observed variation in welfare indicators. We found significant variation demonstrating significantly better welfare indicators after being housed separately as compared to being socially housed indoors overnight. Although separate housing appears to be the ideal condition for this group at this point in time, if seasonality permits, social housing with outdoor access may be a feasible alternative to consistent overnight separation for these gorillas.

Improving welfare assessment in aquaculture

While global aquaculture is rapidly expanding, there remains little attention given to the assessment of animal welfare within aquacultural systems. It is crucial that animal welfare concerns are central in the development and implementation of aquaculture as if they are not prioritized early on, it becomes much more difficult to adapt in future. To this end, it is important to ensure the availability of high-quality welfare assessment schemes to evaluate the welfare of animals in aquaculture and promote and maintain high welfare standards. This paper will first discuss some of the current certification and assessment frameworks, highlighting the primary limitations that need to be addressed, before going on to describe the recommendations for a best-practice welfare assessment process for aquaculture; with the hope that these considerations can be taken on board and used to help improve welfare assessment for aquaculture and, ultimately, to ensure animals used in aquaculture have a higher level of welfare. Any aquacultural system should be assessed according to a suitable framework in order to be considered adequate for the welfare of the animals it contains, and thus to maintain social license to operate.

Members of the Pod: Do Marine Mammal Trainers Perceive a Bond with the Animals They Care For?

Animals under human care interact with their caretakers, potentially resulting in human–animal bonds (HABs), which can enhance wellbeing for both. Previous research has suggested that keepers perceive bonds with their animals, but investigation of a different zoo role working with one species has not yet been completed. Here, we investigate the animal trainers’ perception of HABs with captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). A modified Lexington Attachment to Pets Scale (LAPS) was used to measure the strength of perceived HABs between trainers and both dolphins and companion animals in their care. LAPS questionnaires were completed by 128 trainers from 35 different collections worldwide. Most respondents perceived themselves to have a bond with a dolphin, although LAPS scores for attachment to dolphins (DA) were significantly lower than for companion animals (CA). Female LAPS scores were significantly higher than males for both DA and CA. Multiple regression demonstrated that the facility and trainer gender were significant predictors of CA. LAPS scores for trainers were comparable to those for zoo animals, which reflects a strong attachment to the dolphins they work with. However, this attachment was not as strong as for their companion animals, and was influenced by the collection they worked for.

The influence of welfare and bonds with animals on the job satisfaction of felid keepers in North America

The current study set out to examine the perceptions of felid welfare in zoos and elucidate the factors that influence an individual animal care professional's acceptance and recognition of welfare. A total of 121 felid keepers employed in an Association of Zoos & Aquariums facility were included in analysis. Results demonstrate job satisfaction is directly linked to access to training on welfare topics. The relationship between job satisfaction and the fulfillment of the Five Freedoms is positively correlated. Additionally, overall job satisfaction does not appear to influence the bond with felids, but it does with other zoo animals. Those with lower reported job satisfaction demonstrate an overall lower bond with nonfelids, where this not observed in felids. Participants in this study demonstrate the direct connection between job satisfaction and perceived fulfillment of the Five Freedoms. Participants who were provided access to training and information on animal welfare often demonstrated a higher job satisfaction, more positive perception of their employer, and overall view of zoos meeting the Five Freedoms with captive felids.

A tool for functional selection of leisure camels: Behaviour breeding criteria may ensure long-term sustainability of a European unique breed

Livestock selection for desirable temperament traits still remains disregarded for minor productive species, such as camels. Despite dromedary camels from Canary Islands were at once polyvalent, current major functionality for this unique European recognised breed is limited to tourism-oriented interactive experiences. The conservation of this endemic breed implies the immediate enforcement of selective breeding programmes by including behavioural functional traits as genetic selection criteria. With this purpose, we evaluated the suitability of a practical proposal to qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate camel behaviour performance to be applied in breeding programmes for the improvement of camel personality dimensions. One-hundred thirty-one respondents enjoying a camelback leisure riding during high season in Southern Spain were asked to voluntarily fulfill an on-site questionnaire just after the tourist ride concluded. Eleven behaviour criteria were rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale by each respondent for the camel they had ridden on. Generalized Procrustes Analysis revealed that a general consensus between participants for dromedary behavioural features were reached, more substantial for those expressions reflecting agitation and/or indifference towards interaction with human. Moreover, the variability in animal behaviour patterns could be attributed to camel sex- and age-related differences. Mid- to long-term sustainability of Canarian camels may rely on the ability of involved stakeholders to adapt leisure opportunities to customer demands and expectations. Hence, those camel behavioural features with a conditioning potential of overall participants satisfaction, may become potential objective selection criteria candidates. Consequently, camel functional selective breeding may ensure camel breed preservation and sustainable protection based on leisure activities.

Conducting Behavioural Research in the Zoo: A Guide to Ten Important Methods, Concepts and Theories

Behavioural research in zoos is commonplace and is used in the diagnosis and treatment of potential husbandry and management challenges. Robust methods that allow valid data collection and analysis constitute an evidence-based approach to animal care. Understanding behaviour is essential to improving animal management, and behavioural research is therefore popular, with a wide choice of behavioural methodologies and theories available. This review outlines ten methodological approaches, concepts or theories essential to zoo science that are based around behavioural observation. This list is not exhaustive but aims to define and describe key areas of consideration when planning and implementing a zoo-based behavioural project. We discuss the application of well-established methods (the construction of ethograms, use of time–activity patterns and measurement of space/enclosure use) as well as evaluating newer or less-widely applied analytical techniques, such as behavioural diversity indices, social networks analysis and Qualitative Behavioural Assessment. We also consider the importance of fundamental research methods, the application of pure science to understand and interpret zoo animal behaviour (with a review of a Tinbergian approach) and consideration of meta-analyses. The integration of observational techniques into experiments that aim to identify the cause and effect of behavioural performance is then explored, and we examine the assimilation of behavioural methods used in studies of environmental enrichment. By systematically studying animal behaviour, we can attempt to understand the welfare of individual animals in captivity, and here we present an example of our reviewed approaches to this area of zoo science. Combining multiple methodologies can lead to a greater understanding of behaviour and welfare, creating robust research, progressing husbandry and advancing conservation strategies. Collaborations between zoological collections and academic researchers (e.g., in Higher Education Institutions) can further refine and enhance the validity of research and husbandry practice alike.

Emotional States of African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) Kept for Animal-Visitor Interactions, as Perceived by People Differing in Age and Knowledge of the Species

This study aimed to investigate how three groups of people of differing ages, and with differing knowledge of the species, perceived the emotional state of African elephants (Loxodonta africana) managed in captive and semi-captive environments. Fifteen video-clips of 18 elephants, observed during three different daily routines (release from and return to the night boma; interactions with visitors), were used for a free choice profiling assessment (FCP) and then analyzed with quantitative methods. A general Procrustes analysis identified two main descriptive dimensions of elephant behavioral expression explaining 27% and 19% of the variability in the children group, 19% and 23.7% in adults, and 21.8% and 17% in the expert group. All the descriptors the observers came up with showed a low level of correlation on the identified dimensions. All three observers' groups showed a degree of separation between captive and semi-captive management. Spearman analyses showed that stereotypic "trunk swirling" behavior correlated negatively with first dimension (free/friendly versus sad/bored) in the children's group; second dimension (agitated/confident versus angry/bored) amongst the adults; and first dimension (active/excited versus agitated/bored) amongst the experts. More studies are needed to investigate other potential differences in assessing elephants' emotional states by visitors of different ages and backgrounds.

Dolphin Welfare Assessment under Professional Care: ‘Willingness to Participate’, an Indicator Significantly Associated with Six Potential ‘Alerting Factors’

In dolphinaria, dolphins and their trainers build relationships and bonds due to the nature, closeness and repeatability of their interactions, hence training sessions are deemed appropriate to evaluate dolphin welfare. Qualitative Behavioural Assessments (QBAs) have been used to study human–animal relationships and are included in several animal welfare assessments. We introduce here the first QBA aiming to analyse dolphin–trainer interactions during training sessions in terms of dolphin welfare. Our results show that “Willingness to Participate” (WtP) was significantly associated to six other parameters: high-speed approach, high level of excitement, high number of positive responses to trainers’ signals, rare refusal to perform certain behaviours, rare spontaneous departure behaviours and fast approach once the trainer entered into the pool. Therefore, we suggest using WtP and those “alerting factors” when assessing dolphin–trainer interactions under professional care. The evaluation should also consider the time of day, the dolphin’s age, trainer experience level, the nature of the training sessions and to a lesser extent the sex of the dolphins, as contributing and modulating factors. The factor eye contact has been used in various HARs studies and has been proven to be a valid indicator in welfare research works, hence potentially deserving further research. These results demonstrate the pertinence and feasibility of this approach, the ease of use of this methodology by professionals in zoo/aquarium settings and the appropriateness of the obtained results within the holistic frame of animal welfare.

Where Do We Stand in the Domestic Dog ( Canis familiaris ) Positive-Emotion Assessment: A State-of-the-Art Review and Future Directions

Although there have been a growing number of studies focusing on dog welfare, the research field concerning dog positive-emotion assessment remains mostly unexplored. This paper aims to provide a state-of-the-art review and summary of the scattered and disperse research on dog positive-emotion assessment. The review notably details the current advancement in dog positive-emotion research, what approaches, measures, methods, and techniques have been implemented so far in emotion perception, processing, and response assessment. Moreover, we propose possible future research directions for short-term emotion as well as longer-term emotional states assessment in dogs. The review ends by identifying and addressing some methodological limitations and by pointing out further methodological research needs.

The Need for a Convergence of Agricultural/Laboratory and Zoo-based Approaches to Animal Welfare

Advances in animal welfare science have led to a high number of studies published for farm, laboratory and zoo animals, with a huge breadth of innovative topic areas and methodologies. This paper investigates the different approaches used to undertake welfare research in farm, laboratory and zoo animals due to the variety of constraints that each group brings. We also set recommendations to how groups can support each other in moving forwards to reduce animal suffering and promote a life worth living, a goal that all parties aim to achieve. We propose that researchers develop more collaborations across species, in particular to focus on the applied component of animal welfare and utilizing positive welfare indicators; facilitate knowledge transfer and share good practice worldwide; and accept small n based studies that can still be scientifically robust and provide individual-based steps into advances in our knowledge. Ultimately, we need to be progressing animal welfare science to a point beyond legislative needs, and ensure that "high animal welfare" becomes an additional mission statement for all animal-based industries.