Body condition scores of large carnivores in 44 European zoos

Zoo animals are often suspected to be prone to obesity, due to a combination of readily provided food resources and reduced opportunity for physical exercise. Here, body condition and selected husbandry conditions (the amount of food offered, enclosure size and number of enrichment measures provided) of ten large carnivore species (15–104 individuals per species) in 44 European zoos in seven different countries were assessed. A standardised body condition scoring (BCS) protocol (ranging from 1–9) was applied by a single investigator. In general, the BCS showed a close to normal distribution around the ‘ideal’ score of 5, with a slight right shift towards higher BCS; only in jaguar Panthera onca and lynx Lynx lynx, BCS suggested over-conditioned study populations. BCS tended towards positive correlation with body mass, except in tigers Panthera tigris, leopards Panthera pardus and the two bear species Ursus arctos and U. maritimus. Within species, the BCS was not systematically correlated with the amount of food, enclosure size or number of enrichment measures. The results suggest that while both underand over-conditioned individuals exist, the study populations are largely in a body condition considered ideal. The lack of overarching correlations with simplistic husbandry proxies suggests that management of body condition occurs at the level of the individual institution with tailored measures

Fasted and furious? Considerations on the use of fasting days in large carnivore husbandry

Many large mammalian terrestrial carnivores do not hunt every day in their natural habitats, because given the right prey, they can gorge-feed more than their daily energy and nutrient requirements. At the same time, there is a tradition of exposing these species to one or several fasting days per week in zoos. In this study husbandry guidelines for large carnivores were surveyed, and feeding routines recorded in 44 European zoos. Husbandry guidelines did not suggest that fasting days should be preceded by gorge-feeding, and the most common practice observed at the zoos also did not include a gorge-feeding day prior to the fasting day. This raises the question why fasting days are implemented in zoo regimes in the first place. The observed practice of providing special enrichment on fasting days might stem from the impression that animals are not at ease when fasting after receiving a food portion basically corresponding to little more than their daily requirement on the day before, without a feeling of satiety related to gut distension. These current feeding regimes of zoo carnivores should be re-assessed. The combination of fasting days with preceding gorge-feeding, together with strenuous physical activity and cognitive challenges linked to the feeding event, might have the potential to mimic natural behaviours more closely than current practices. This should be investigated in future studies

Activity budget and behaviour of giant otters Pteronura brasiliensis at Parken Zoo, Eskilstuna, Sweden

Modern zoos must ensure the welfare and conservation of their captive animals. For this, it is recommended to provide cognitive stimuli (‘enrichment’), good habitat management and adequate nutrition amongst other things. Assessment of animal welfare should include behavioural observation. One frequently used approach compares the activity budget of zoo animals with their wild conspecifics, carefully interpreting resulting differences. Here, this method is used for giant otters Pteronura brasiliensis on a feeding regime with three fixed feeding times during the keeper’s working day, and ice blocks containing fish suspended above the pool, thawing over time and thus releasing fish well into the night. This time-delayed food dispensing was expected to make the subjects spend a large proportion of time foraging. Nevertheless, results show a lower feeding proportion than reported in the literature for this species in the wild (27% versus 64%), likely related to the fact that zoo animals did not have to hunt live prey. The captive otters also spent less time scent-marking (1% versus 9%), possibly due to the absence of other conspecific groups in their vicinity. By contrast, there was a higher proportion of resting (34% versus 21%) and affiliative behaviours (14% versus 1%), suggesting that shifts in the activity budget between natural habitats and zoos need not always be interpreted as indicators of reduced welfare. ‘Calling family members to food’, reported in the wild, was observed repeatedly when one family member was awake and the rest were asleep at a time that fish fell from the thawing block into the pool. Extending food distribution over time, particularly into the night, might develop behaviours other than increased feeding activity as indicators of welfare in captive giant otters. Further investigations with delayed feeding methods for this and other species are needed

The behavioural effects of feeding lean meat vs whole rabbit carcasses to zoo jaguars Panthera onca

The challenge of carnivore feeding in zoos is to stimulate natural feeding behaviour without using live prey animals. The objective of this study was to investigate how two different feed types (lean beef and whole rabbits) affect the behaviour of zoo jaguars Panthera onca for the first six hours after feed presentation. Three socially housed jaguars at Parken Zoo, Sweden, were offered either lean beef or whole rabbits for 10 consecutive feeding days. Their behaviour during and after feeding was videorecorded and then compared between the two feed types. When analysing the frequency of different behaviours for six hours after feeding, results confirm that feeding behaviour occurred significantly more frequently when whole rabbits were fed, particularly during the first hour after feed presentation. However, even though feeding time increased by more than 300%, this represents a change of less than 1% in terms of the overall proportion of a 24-hour budget. Future studies might investigate the effect of feeding jaguars larger carcasses than rabbits, including with more hours of observation

Large carnivore feeding in European zoos

While zoo carnivore life expectancy has increased, the question remains how these longer lives are spent. Because feeding management may particularly infl uence carnivore behaviour, we collected and recorded feeding routines in 44 European zoos in 7 different countries by personal visits. During these visits, we assessed the current feeding situation in zoos, which was achieved by accompanying the responsible staff members on their daily routines with 11 different carnivore species. Meat on bone as a diet item was used by the majority of zoos, and carcass feeding was mainly practiced with small (rodents, rabbit, chicken), but hardly with large carcasses. Whereas many institutions reported a certain repertoire of feeding methods of varying potential enrichment value, during the visits themselves, most institutions used those methods of their feeding repertoire that can be considered less labour-intensive and less enriching. The number of institutions that only used a limited number of feeding methods was unexpectedly high, and methods like swing pole feeders, pulley feeders or self-serving feeders (excl. time-delayed feeders and barrel feeders in bears) were not in use in the visited institutions. Additionally, neither methods that require social carnivores to cooperate to access food, nor other feeding methods during which animals can actually fail to obtain their food (mimicking unsuccessful hunting) were reported. We suggest that in order to more closely mimic natural conditions and possibly enhance carnivore welfare, large carcass feeding in physically and cognitively challenging ways should be used more frequently, with a written feeding management plan to ensure that these feeding methods are not only used sporadically, but at a consistent frequency. Such an approach could at the same time ensure that appropriate resources in terms of facilities, equipment, diet items, and work time are available

Fasted and furious? Considerations on the use of fasting days in large carnivore husbandry

Many large mammalian terrestrial carnivores do not hunt every day in their natural habitats, because given the right prey, they can gorge-feed more than their daily energy and nutrient requirements. At the same time, there is a tradition of exposing these species to one or several fasting days per week in zoos. In this study husbandry guidelines for large carnivores were surveyed, and feeding routines recorded in 44 European zoos. Husbandry guidelines did not suggest that fasting days should be preceded by gorge-feeding, and the most common practice observed at the zoos also did not include a gorge-feeding day prior to the fasting day. This raises the question why fasting days are implemented in zoo regimes in the first place. The observed practice of providing special enrichment on fasting days might stem from the impression that animals are not at ease when fasting after receiving a food portion basically corresponding to little more than their daily requirement on the day before, without a feeling of satiety related to gut distension. These current feeding regimes of zoo carnivores should be re-assessed. The combination of fasting days with preceding gorge-feeding, together with strenuous physical activity and cognitive challenges linked to the feeding event, might have the potential to mimic natural behaviours more closely than current practices. This should be investigated in future studies