Investigating Visitor Activity on a Safari Drive

Despite increasing studies focusing on the visitor experience in zoological collections, minimal attention has been paid to visitor activity when driving through safari parks. The dwell time of visitors at exhibits within a traditional zoo setting has offered a good method to measure exhibit and species popularity, but studying visitors on a safari drive offers a unique set of challenges, with factors such as road length skewing a basic dwell time measurement. Therefore, the current study proposes that average speed offers a robust means to investigate visitor activity on a safari drive. Average speed was found to be significantly different depending on species exhibited, with primates and felids eliciting slower speeds and bovids and cervids faster speeds. This result broadly mirrors that of traditional zoo studies where primates elicit longer dwell times. Future safari drive studies could help inform decisions made on a safari drive for aspects such a collection planning, drive layout and exhibit design. Harnessing tracking technology, e.g., GPS, alongside more diverse methodologies, such as questionnaires and multi-institutional approaches, would further allow more robust conclusions to be drawn

5-HTTLPR and early childhood adversities moderate cognitive and emotional processing in adolescence

This is the final version of the article. Available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recordBACKGROUND: Polymorphisms in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) and exposure to early childhood adversities (CA) are independently associated with individual differences in cognitive and emotional processing. Whether these two factors interact to influence cognitive and emotional processing is not known. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used a sample of 238 adolescents from a community study characterised by the presence of the short allele of 5-HTTLPR (LL, LS, SS) and the presence or absence of exposure to CA before 6 years of age. We measured cognitive and emotional processing using a set of neuropsychological tasks selected predominantly from the CANTAB® battery. We found that adolescents homozygous for the short allele (SS) of 5-HTTLPR and exposed to CA were worse at classifying negative and neutral stimuli and made more errors in response to ambiguous negative feedback. In addition, cognitive and emotional processing deficits were associated with diagnoses of anxiety and/or depressions. CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE: Cognitive and emotional processing deficits may act as a transdiagnostic intermediate marker for anxiety and depressive disorders in genetically susceptible individuals exposed to CA.IMG, PW, TC, PBJ, and BJS are supported by programme and project grants from the Wellcome Trust (Grant no. 074296), MRC (UK) and NIHR (UK). TC held a Senior Research Fellowship from the Department of Health, UK during this study. BJS is a member of the Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge. This work was completed within the NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) of which PBJ is Director and IMG and TC are the Adolescent Programme and Methods leaders respectively. The CLAHRC is hosted by the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust

The Impacts of Evening Events in Zoos: A Christmas Event at Knowsley Safari

It is important to examine the animal welfare implications of all aspects of zoo operations, including out-of-hours public events. Research to date has indicated variable responses across species and event types. The current research aimed to understand and quantify the impact of a Christmas lights event. Four species: Rothschild giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi; n = 2) in one exhibit and capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris; n = 4), lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris; n = 3) and vicuña (Lama vicugna; n = 5) in a mixed species exhibit were observed. Data were collected from 16:00–20:00 between 28 October 2021 and 11 January 2022. The event ran from mid-November to the end of December 2021. Five-minute behavioural observations were undertaken once per hour using instantaneous scan sampling with a one-minute inter-scan interval. A further six days of 12 h observations were conducted to enable a more detailed investigation post-event. Data collected were compared on non-event and event days using Mann–Whitney U tests (event vs. non-event) and Kruskal–Wallis tests (pre-event, event, post-event periods). Kruskal–Wallis tests and one-way ANOVAs were undertaken to compare behaviours during three time periods (12:00–16:00, 16:00–20:00, 20:00–00:00) over 12 h. Mixed behavioural responses were seen across the study species. Capybara spent more time in their house from 16:00–20:00 on event nights compared to non-event nights (p < 0.001) and tapir only engaged in vigilant behaviour from 16:00–20:00 when the event was held, (p = 0.044). There were no differences in frequency of behaviour between pre-event, event, and post-event observation periods, with the exception of capybara, who spent more time OOS in the pre-event period than during (p < 0.001) or after the event (p < 0.001). The results of the project, undertaken as part of an evidence-based management programme, highlighted that the event did not have any overtly negative impacts on the individuals studied. Except for the giraffe, all individuals had free access to inside and outside environments, and it is believed this choice enabled animals to be active in managing their response to the event. It is recommended that future work observe animals over 24 h to understand whether events lead to behavioural changes the day after events or if animals reverted to normal activity once the event ended

‘Do i care?’ young adults' recalled experiences of early adolescent overweight and obesity: a qualitative study

<p>Objective: Individual behaviour change to reduce obesity requires awareness of, and concern about, weight. This paper therefore describes how young adults, known to have been overweight or obese during early adolescence, recalled early adolescent weight-related awareness and concerns. Associations between recalled concerns and weight-, health- and peer-related survey responses collected during adolescence are also examined.</p> <p>Design: Qualitative semi-structured interviews with young adults; data compared with responses to self-report questionnaires obtained in adolescence.</p> <p>Participants: A total of 35 participants, purposively sub-sampled at age 24 from a longitudinal study of a school year cohort, previously surveyed at ages 11, 13 and 15. Physical measures during previous surveys allowed identification of participants with a body mass index (BMI) indicative of overweight or obesity (based on British 1990 growth reference) during early adolescence. Overall, 26 had been obese, of whom 11 had BMI99.6th centile, whereas 9 had been overweight (BMI=95th–97.9th centile).</p> <p>Measures: Qualitative interview responses describing teenage life, with prompts for school-, social- and health-related concerns. Early adolescent self-report questionnaire data on weight-worries, self-esteem, friends and victimisation (closed questions).</p> <p>Results: Most, but not all recalled having been aware of their overweight. None referred to themselves as having been obese. None recalled weight-related health worries. Recollection of early adolescent obesity varied from major concerns impacting on much of an individual's life to almost no concern, with little relation to actual severity of overweight. Recalled concerns were not clearly patterned by gender, but young adult males recalling concerns had previously reported more worries about weight, lower self-esteem, fewer friends and more victimisation in early adolescence; no such pattern was seen among females. Conclusion: The popular image of the unhappy overweight teenager was not borne out. Many obese adolescents, although well aware of their overweight recalled neither major dissatisfaction nor concern. Weight-reduction behaviours are unlikely in such circumstances.</p&gt

An investigation of cognitive 'branching' processes in major depression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients with depression demonstrate cognitive impairment on a wide range of cognitive tasks, particularly putative tasks of frontal lobe function. Recent models of frontal lobe function have argued that the frontal pole region is involved in cognitive branching, a process requiring holding in mind one goal while performing sub-goal processes. Evidence for this model comes from functional neuroimaging and frontal-pole lesion patients. We have utilised these new concepts to investigate the possibility that patients with depression are impaired at cognitive 'branching'.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>11 non-medicated patients with major depression were compared to 11 matched controls in a behavioural study on a task of cognitive 'branching'. In the version employed here, we recorded participant's performance as they learnt to perform the task. This involved participants completing a control condition, followed by a working memory condition, a dual-task condition and finally the branching condition, which integrates processes in the working memory and dual-task conditions. We also measured participants on a number of other cognitive tasks as well as mood-state before and after the branching experiment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Patients took longer to learn the first condition, but performed comparably to controls after six runs of the task. Overall, reaction times decreased with repeated exposure on the task conditions in controls, with this effect attenuated in patients. Importantly, no differences were found between patients and controls on the branching condition. There was, however, a significant change in mood-state with patients increasing in positive affect and decreasing in negative affect after the experiment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We found no clear evidence of a fundamental impairment in anterior prefrontal 'branching processes' in patients with depression. Rather our data argue for a contextual learning impairment underlying cognitive dysfunction in this disorder. Our data suggest that MDD patients are able to perform high-level cognitive control tasks comparably to controls provided they are well trained. Future work should replicate these preliminary findings in a larger sample of MDD patients.</p

Social pain and social gain in the adolescent brain: A common neural circuitry underlying both positive and negative social evaluation

Social interaction inherently involves the subjective evaluation of cues salient to social inclusion and exclusion. Testifying to the importance of such social cues, parts of the neural system dedicated to the detection of physical pain, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI), have been shown to be equally sensitive to the detection of social pain experienced after social exclusion. However, recent work suggests that this dACC-AI matrix may index $\textit{any}$ socially pertinent information. We directly tested the hypothesis that the dACC-AI would respond to cues of $\textit{both}$ inclusion and exclusion, using a novel social feedback fMRI paradigm in a population-derived sample of adolescents. We show that the dACC and left AI are commonly activated by feedback cues of inclusion and exclusion. Our findings suggest that theoretical accounts of the dACC-AI network as a neural alarm system restricted within the social domain to the processing of signals of exclusion require significant revision.This work was supported by grants from Friends of Peterhouse Medical Fund Cambridge (RG 51114), the Wellcome Trust (RG 074296), and the UK Medical Research Council (MC US A060 0019)

A report of Bilharziella polonica cercariae in Knowsley Safari, Prescot, United Kingdom, with notes on other trematodes implicated in human cercarial dermatitis

As part of surveillance of snail-borne trematodiasis in Knowsley Safari (KS), Prescot, United Kingdom, a collection was made in July 2021 of various planorbid (n = 173) and lymnaeid (n = 218) snails. These were taken from 15 purposely selected freshwater habitats. In the laboratory emergent trematode cercariae, often from single snails, were identified by morphology with a sub-set, of those most accessible, later characterized by cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) DNA barcoding. Two schistosomatid cercariae were of special note in the context of human cercarial dermatitis (HCD), Bilharziella polonica emergent from Planorbarius corneus and Trichobilharzia spp. emergent from Ampullacaena balthica. The former schistosomatid was last reported in the United Kingdom over 50 years ago. From cox1 analyses, the latter likely consisted of two taxa, Trichobilharzia anseri, a first report in the United Kingdom, and a hitherto unnamed genetic lineage having some affiliation with Trichobilharzia longicauda. The chronobiology of emergent cercariae from P. corneus was assessed, with the vertical swimming rate of B. polonica measured. We provide a brief risk appraisal of HCD for public activities typically undertaken within KS educational and recreational programmes

Behavioural Changes in Zoo Animals during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Long-Term, Multi Species Comparison

Visitors are a prominent feature of the zoo environment and lives of zoo animals. The COVID-19 pandemic led to repeated and extended closure periods for zoos worldwide. This unique period in zoological history enabled the opportunity to investigate the consistency of behavioural responses of zoo animals to closures and subsequent reopenings. Bennett’s wallabies (Notamacropus rufogriseus), meerkats (Suricata suricatta), macaws (red and green: Ara chloropterus; blue and yellow: Ara ararauna; military: Ara militaris) and rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus) held at four zoological collections in the United Kingdom were studied during COVID-19 closures and subsequent reopening periods. Facilities were closed for three time periods during 2020 and 2021: March–June/July 2020; November–December 2020; January–April/May 2021. Behavioural data were captured during closures (maximum n = 3) and reopening periods (maximum n = 3) during five-min scans using instantaneous scan sampling with a one-minute inter-scan interval. General linear models (GLMs) and general linear mixed models (GLMMs) were used to investigate the relationship between observed behaviours and open/closed periods. Changes were observed in behaviour between open and closure periods in all species, and in some instances changes were also observed over time, with animals responding differently to different closure and reopening periods. However, no overt positive or negative impacts of the closures or reopening periods were identified for these species. The study species may have different relationships with zoo visitors, but no clear differences were seen across the species studied. The unique opportunity to study animals over a long period of time during repeated closure periods enabled a greater understanding of the impact of zoo visitors on animals. As with other work in this sphere, these data support the adaptability of zoo animals to zoo visitors. This work contributes to the growing field of research undertaken during the COVID-19 periods and enhances our understanding of the impact that these zoological closures had on a wider body of species in a number of facilities

Removing Human Bottlenecks in Bird Classification Using Camera Trap Images and Deep Learning

Birds are important indicators for monitoring both biodiversity and habitat health; they also play a crucial role in ecosystem management. Declines in bird populations can result in reduced ecosystem services, including seed dispersal, pollination and pest control. Accurate and long-term monitoring of birds to identify species of concern while measuring the success of conservation interventions is essential for ecologists. However, monitoring is time-consuming, costly and often difficult to manage over long durations and at meaningfully large spatial scales. Technology such as camera traps, acoustic monitors and drones provide methods for non-invasive monitoring. There are two main problems with using camera traps for monitoring: (a) cameras generate many images, making it difficult to process and analyse the data in a timely manner; and (b) the high proportion of false positives hinders the processing and analysis for reporting. In this paper, we outline an approach for overcoming these issues by utilising deep learning for real-time classification of bird species and automated removal of false positives in camera trap data. Images are classified in real-time using a Faster-RCNN architecture. Images are transmitted over 3/4G cameras and processed using Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) to provide conservationists with key detection metrics, thereby removing the requirement for manual observations. Our models achieved an average sensitivity of 88.79%, a specificity of 98.16% and accuracy of 96.71%. This demonstrates the effectiveness of using deep learning for automatic bird monitoring

Mood and neural responses to social rejection do not seem to be altered in resilient adolescents with a history of adversity

Childhood adversity (CA) increases the risk of subsequent mental health problems. Adolescent social support (from family and/or friends) reduces the risk of mental health problems after CA. However, the mechanisms of this effect remain unclear, and we speculate that they are manifested on neurodevelopmental levels. Therefore, we investigated whether family and/or friendship support at ages 14 and 17 function as intermediate variables for the relationship between CA before age 11 and affective or neural responses to social rejection feedback at age 18. We studied 55 adolescents with normative mental health at age 18 (26 with CA and therefore considered “resilient”), from a longitudinal cohort. Participants underwent a Social Feedback Task in the magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Social rejection feedback activated the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the left anterior insula. CA did not predict affective or neural responses to social rejection at age 18. Yet, CA predicted better friendships at age 14 and age 18, when adolescents with and without CA had comparable mood levels. Thus, adolescents with CA and normative mood levels have more adolescent friendship support and seem to have normal mood and neural responses to social rejection