Dougan, Faculty Advisor, James D.

Milligan, Erin

Digital Commons @ Illinois Wesleyan University

Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUJohn Wesley Powell Student ResearchConference 2004, 15th Annual JWP ConferenceApr 17th, 1:15 PM - 2:30 PMIntervention Across the Zoo Day: EnvironmentalEnrichment in Malaysian Sun BearsErin MilliganIllinois Wesleyan UniversityJames D. Dougan, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprcThis Event is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Erin Milligan and James D. Dougan, Faculty Advisor, "Intervention Across the Zoo Day: Environmental Enrichment inMalaysian Sun Bears" (April 17, 2004). John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference. Paper 15.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprc/2004/posters2/15THE JOHN WESLEY POWELL STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE - APRIL 2004 Poster Presentation P30 INTERVENTION ACROSS THE ZOO DAY: ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT IN MALAYSIAN SUN BEARS Erin Milligan and James D. Dougan* Department of Psychology, Illinois Wesleyan University It has become increasingly important to provide enriched environments for captive wild animals. Research suggests that enriched environments may reduce unwanted behavior (i.e., repetitive pacing). The present experiment reports on an ongoing program of environmental enrichment for Malaysian Sun Bears. During baseline sessions, data were collected across the 7 -hour zoo day using a set of fourteen behavioral categories. Included in the fourteen categories were several types of repetitive, stereotypical behaviors identified in earlier studies. During intervention sessions, a set of foraging tubes were hidden in the bears enclosure, each containing a variable amount of a food item. The task required the bears to locate and open the tubes before consuming the contents. Previous studies in the zoo environment have shown the foraging tubes to be an effective means of reducing inappropriate behavior. In the present study, tubes were introduced at 2 p.m. in the afternoon, allowing assessment of the affects of using a particular intervention time. This research will lend information on the optimal time for tube placement within the zoo day. The results have implications for the study of captive Sun Bears, as well as for zoo animals in general. 

Intervention Across the Zoo Day: Environmental Enrichment in Malaysian Sun Bears

http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1807&context=jwprc

Intervention Across the Zoo Day: Environmental Enrichment in Malaysian Sun Bears

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Digital Commons @ Illinois Wesleyan University