Animal Learning and Training: Implications for Animal Welfare

KEY POINTS A definition of animal welfare is the state of the individual as it attempts to cope with its environment. Welfare concerns all of the mechanisms for coping, involving physiology, behavior, feelings, and pathologic responses. When training programs are not in place the animal’s welfare could be impaired. Some of the behaviors an animal exhibits can be used to gain insight into how the animal feels about the environment, caretakers, and procedures. Many contemporary animal trainers and care specialists focus on building relationships using positive reinforcement

Pre and post session behaviour of captive bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus involved in "Swim-with-Dolphin" events

Published studies suggest that some dolphins find swim-with-dolphin (SWD) enriching or are hardly affected by it, while others find this stressful. In this study we investigated whether there are behavioural changes in dolphins after controlled SWD sessions in comparison with periods immediately before the session or at times when no session is due; and whether these behavioural changes indicate enhanced or reduced welfare. The study was undertaken at Dolphin Academy in Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, between May and June 2017. Thirteen dolphins were subjects, four male and nine females with ages ranging from 4yrs to 32yrs. Observations of dolphins took place in any of the five semi-open water pools and constituted of 30-minute focal animal sessions. These were timed to occur during the 30 minutes immediately before the start of a scheduled SWD session (‘before’), during the 30 minutes immediately following the same session (‘after’), and during a 30-minute period when the animal was not about to be part of a session or had not just finished a session (‘control’). Sessions for observation were chosen opportunistically according to the timetable used by the facility. Two ethograms were used, one for state behaviours and one for event behaviours. A total of 184 30-minute observations periods were completed, divided between the three different conditions. A minimum of six before-after pairs was possible for all subjects except one dolphin. Multiple regression produced significant models for several behaviours, but the significant predictors were mostly the pool in which observations occurred or the presence of disturbance or trainers, but not condition. It appears in our study that the welfare of the dolphins was neither compromised nor improved by taking part in the SWD sessions. There is no evidence in our data that taking part in a SWD session in itself has any impact on the behaviour of the dolphins, but that in all conditions (before, after and control) they spend time responding to the presence of trainers or disturbance, both in their own pool and in neighbouring pools. Further research should address the question whether the effects of disturbances and the presence of trainers are compromising or improving the welfare of the dolphins, and whether the increased interaction with trainers due to the SWD sessions is itself enriching for the animals

Eating animals at the zoo

In many zoological gardens, safari parks, dolphinaria, and aquaria (zoos) worldwide, all levels of staff work hard to create enriching environments as well as to highlight welfare initiatives. In these same zoos, however, food for guests and feed for animals are often sourced from unsustainable farming practices and/or produced under welfare detrimental circumstances in industrialized agriculture and fisheries. The current paper focuses on the concept of animal welfare, as an ethical dilemma for zoos in a broader sense than is usually considered. More specifically, it is an investigation into the apparent discrepancy between official animal friendly values and the lack of regard for the welfare issues surrounding the origins of the meats and fishes offered at zoo restaurants and in animal feeding practices. That is, we argue that there is a normative double standard at issue in the dichotomy between how zoos approach and assert the value of their exhibited animals and the way they approach and assert the value of the farm animals and fish that are consumed by zoo visitors and fed to zoo animals. Moreover, we explore the fundamental characteristics of this double standard and the actions that zoos can take in order to avoid this ethical animal welfare dilemma

Personality structure in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

Comparative studies can help identify selective pressures that contributed to species differences in the number and composition of personality domains. Despite being adapted to an aquatic lifestyle and last sharing a common ancestor with primates some 95 million years ago, bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) resemble nonhuman primate species in several behavioral and cognitive traits. For example, like chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), dolphins live in fission-fusion societies, use tools, and have relatively large brains. To determine the extent to which these and other factors contribute to the evolution of personality structure, we examined personality structure in 134 bottlenose dolphins. Personality was measured in 49 dolphins using a 42-item questionnaire, and in 85 dolphins using a version of the questionnaire that included 7 additional items. We found four domains. Three—openness, sociability, and disagreeableness—resembled personality domains found in nonhuman primates and other species. The fourth, directedness, was a blend of high conscientiousness and low neuroticism, and was unique to dolphins. Unlike other species, dolphins did not appear to have a strong dominance domain. The overlap in personality structure between dolphins and other species suggests that selective pressures, such as those related to group structure, terrestrial lifestyles, morphology, and social learning or tool use are not necessary for particular domains to evolve within a species

Eating animals at the zoo

In many zoological gardens, safari parks, dolphinaria, and aquaria (zoos) worldwide, all levels of staff work hard to create enriching environments as well as to highlight welfare initiatives. In these same zoos, however, food for guests and feed for animals are often sourced from unsustainable farming practices and/or produced under welfare detrimental circumstances in industrialized agriculture and fisheries. The current paper focuses on the concept of animal welfare, as an ethical dilemma for zoos in a broader sense than is usually considered. More specifically, it is an investigation into the apparent discrepancy between official animal friendly values and the lack of regard for the welfare issues surrounding the origins of the meats and fishes offered at zoo restaurants and in animal feeding practices. That is, we argue that there is a normative double standard at issue in the dichotomy between how zoos approach and assert the value of their exhibited animals and the way they approach and assert the value of the farm animals and fish that are consumed by zoo visitors and fed to zoo animals. Moreover, we explore the fundamental characteristics of this double standard and the actions that zoos can take in order to avoid this ethical animal welfare dilemma

Determination of growth, mass, and body mass index of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena): Implications for conservational status assessment of populations

Longitudinal data on individual growth and seasonal changes in body mass, girth, and blubber thickness are rarely available for cetaceans, making it difficult to assess their population composition and individual nutritional condition. During different time intervals from 1997 to 2020, we collected longitudinal data on length, body mass, girth,and blubber thickness from seventeen harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in human care. We compared Gompertz and von Bertalanffy growth curves to collected length data at age 0–4 years for five individuals with known dates of birth. Von Bertalanffy had the lowest AICc value and was used to predict the birth year of twelve animals which age had previously been estimated based on tooth ring analysis and ossification of flipper bones. The growth curve was accurate within 1 yr. of age estimates. Within the first year, the calves grew 66%, attaining 84% of their adult length, and reached asymptotic length at age 3–4. For adults, there were large seasonal variations in body mass, body mass index, girth, and blubber thickness, with up to 28% of variation in body mass between seasons. We predicted individual body mass within ± 2 kg using measurements of length and girth, allowing estimation of body mass index of individuals with unknown mass. Our findings enable monitoring and assessments of population composition as well as nutritional condition of individual harbour porpoises, which is crucial for assessing conservational status and guiding management

Decrease Stress; Train Your Animals: The Effect of Handling Methods on Cortisol Levels in Harbour Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) Under Human Care

Circulating cortisol levels are accepted as a sensitive indicator of acute stress in marine mammals, particularly in relation with capture and handling. The present study provides the first long-term monitoring of cortisol levels in four harbour porpoises held in human care—an adult male and adult female and two juvenile females. It also compares levels in blood obtained after removing the animal from the water (OWR sampling) with levels in blood obtained at poolside under voluntary husbandry behaviours (VHB sampling). Cortisol levels differed significantly between the four porpoises, although they all exhibited quite high variations in cortisol levels, with averages of 64.9 and 70.5 μg/l in the adult male and female, respectively, and 90.7 and 51.4 μg/l in the juvenile females. OWR sampling induced significantly higher cortisol levels than VHB sampling, with a dramatic threefold decrease in circulating cortisol levels obtained under VHB sampling compared to levels obtained under OWR sampling (16.6 and 20.2 μg/l compared with 64.9 and 70.5 μg/l in the adult male and female respectively). Even if the porpoises showed some habituation to handling, regular and frequent handling over several years did not suppress a significant stress response in the porpoises when they were removed from the water, pointing to the advantage of using VHB for limiting stress in husbandry practices

The 24/7 approach to promoting optimal welfare for captive wild animals

We have an ethical responsibility to provide captive animals with environments that allow them to experience good welfare. Husbandry activities are often scheduled for the convenience of care staff working within the constraints of the facility, rather than considering the biological and psychological requirements of the animals themselves. The animal welfare 24/7 across the lifespan concept provides a holistic framework to map features of the animal’s life cycle, taking into account their natural history, in relation to variations in the captive environment, across day and night, weekdays, weekends, and seasons. In order for animals to have the opportunity to thrive, we argue the need to consider their lifetime experience, integrated into the environments we provide, and with their perspective in mind. Here, we propose a welfare assessment tool based upon 14 criteria, to allow care staff to determine if their animals’ welfare needs are met. We conclude that animal habitat management will be enhanced with the use of integrated technologies that provide the animals with more opportunities to engineer their own environments, providing them with complexity, choice and control