A Systematic Review of the Use of Technology to Monitor Welfare in Zoo Animals:Is There Space for Improvement?

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Ensuring appropriate animal welfare to promote wildlife conservation is a top priority of modern zoos, leading to greater effort to improve welfare monitoring approaches. However, more traditional procedures can present some limitations, while the implementation of technology might become an extra tool to comply with the need of a more efficient welfare assessment. This study aimed to summarise the available body of research on technologies used for the assessment of animal welfare in zoos. The results revealed that the majority of publications were published from 2015 onwards suggesting that this research field is still young. So far, the use of technology to assess zoo animal welfare has focused mainly on large mammals likely due to the emotional impact and interest that they have on the public and media worldwide. In addition, despite the employment of both detached and wearable sensors to assess animal welfare in zoos, implementation of algorithms to enable real-time monitoring of the animals is still scarce compared to research on farm animals. Greater application of technologies in zoo research and on more taxa should be the focus of future studies, so that another effective welfare assessment approach can be used together with more traditional procedures to improve zoo animal welfare and ultimately promote wildlife conservation. ABSTRACT: A top priority of modern zoos is to ensure good animal welfare (AW), thus, efforts towards improving AW monitoring are increasing. Welfare assessments are performed through more traditional approaches by employing direct observations and time-consuming data collection that require trained specialists. These limitations may be overcome through automated monitoring using wearable or remotely placed sensors. However, in this fast-developing field, the level of automated AW monitoring used in zoos is unclear. Hence, the aim of this systematic literature review was to investigate research conducted on the use of technology for AW assessment in zoos with a focus on real-time automated monitoring systems. The search led to 19 publications with 18 of them published in the last six years. Studies focused on mammals (89.5%) with elephant as the most studied species followed by primates. The most used technologies were camera (52.6%) and wearable sensors (31.6%) mainly used to measure behaviour, while the use of algorithms was reported in two publications only. This research area is still young in zoos and mainly focused on large mammals. Despite an increase in publications employing automated AW monitoring in the last years, the potential for this to become an extra useful tool needs further research

A decision framework to integrate in-situ and ex-situ management for species in the European Union

Zoos and aquaria in the European Union (EU) can play a crucial role in the conservation of EU species, as they currently hold nearly half (49%) of EU terrestrial vertebrates. In this study, we analyzed the species composition and population sizes of EU zoos and developed a framework to prioritize recommendations for additional ex-situ and in-situ interventions for 277 at-risk EU species. Our results showed that EU zoos currently hold 39% of threatened EU species, 27% of EU endemic species, 62% of EU species vulnerable to climate change, 20% of EU species listed by the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE), 25% of Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) EU species, while only 5% are subject to ex-situ conservation. Using our framework, we found that additional captive breeding was recommended for 60-61%% of species while expanding protected areas was recommended for only 2–22%, as 217 out of 277 species already met habitat protection targets. Both interventions were recommended for up to 20% of species, while the remaining 18% required no interventions because captive populations and habitat protection fully met targets. Our flexible framework can support more effective integrated conservation planning decisions for EU species and help identify target species for further in-depth assessment by the IUCN Ex-situ guidelines

Traditional Knowledge Systems and the Conservation of Cross River Gorillas: a Case Study of Bechati, Fossimondi, Besali, Cameroon

Traditional beliefs associated with the Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) in Lebialem Division, Cameroon, were studied to establish the usefulness of incorporating these local belief systems into the conservation strategy for this critically endangered species. A survey was conducted in 2007 in five villages to assess local perceptions of human-gorilla totemic kinship practices and taboos against hunting and against eating of gorillas. Villages were selected based on their proximity to Cross River gorilla (CRG) habitat, with a total of 184 interviewer-administered questionnaires completed during a 4-week period. Eighty-six percent of people agreed that gorillas were totems (personal spiritual helpers or counterparts) of people living in the village. People who believed in human-gorilla totemic kinship practice did not eat or hunt gorillas, and they wanted gorillas to be protected in order to protect the practice. Most (87%), of the interviewees declared their support for gorilla conservation. The main motivation was the belief that when gorillas are killed, the human totemic counterpart will die as a result. Because of these traditions, the hunting of gorillas is taboo in all five villages surveyed. On the other hand, gorilla parts play a direct role in traditional medicine, and gorilla bones are valued as ingredients for traditional medicine. Also, general awareness and adherence to local totemic practices was found to be declining, particularly among young people (18-25 years). Despite the imminent decline in value of belief systems that led to the establishment of the hunting taboo, this taboo is still in place and has discouraged the hunting of gorillas. Where law enforcement is weak or near inexistent, these traditional restrictions could be critical to the continuing survival of a gorilla population. Reviving and promoting beliefs and practices conducive to gorilla conservation could foster positive attitudes and behavior and have the potential to encourage local support and participation in communities. However, care must be taken when selecting practices to promote, as some (for example the use of gorillas in traditional medicine) could encourage the killing of animals

22q11.2 low copy repeats expanded in the human lineage

Segmental duplications or low copy repeats (LCRs) constitute duplicated regions interspersed in the human genome, currently neglected in standard analyses due to their extreme complexity. Recent functional studies have indicated the potential of genes within LCRs in synaptogenesis, neuronal migration, and neocortical expansion in the human lineage. One of the regions with the highest proportion of duplicated sequence is the 22q11.2 locus, carrying eight LCRs (LCR22-A until LCR22-H), and rearrangements between them cause the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. The LCR22-A block was recently reported to be hypervariable in the human population. It remains unknown whether this variability also exists in non-human primates, since research is strongly hampered by the presence of sequence gaps in the human and non-human primate reference genomes. To chart the LCR22 haplotypes and the associated inter- and intra-species variability, we de novo assembled the region in non-human primates by a combination of optical mapping techniques. A minimal and likely ancient haplotype is present in the chimpanzee, bonobo, and rhesus monkey without intra-species variation. In addition, the optical maps identified assembly errors and closed gaps in the orthologous chromosome 22 reference sequences. These findings indicate the LCR22 expansion to be unique to the human population, which might indicate involvement of the region in human evolution and adaptation. Those maps will enable LCR22-specific functional studies and investigate potential associations with the phenotypic variability in the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

Browse silage: winterfood in the zoo

Poster presentationstatus: publishe

Browse silage: winterfood in the zoo

status: publishe

Zoo based amphibian research and Conservation Breeding Programs (CBPs).

Volume: v.5:no.3=no.8 (2011-2012)Start Page: 1End Page: 1