Activity budget of zoo-housed Dolichotis patagonum mates

BAECHLI JOHAN; BELLIS LAURA; GARCÍA CAPOCASA MARÍA CONSTANZA; BUSSO JUAN MANUEL

Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research

EAZA, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.

Año: 2021 p. 14 - 19

Captive conditions differ widely from an animal?s ancestral environment and pose the risk of making them prone to reduced behavioural flexibility and sometimes impaired reproduction. Dolichotis patagonum, a near threatened species, is a large rodent endemic to Argentina with a singular social organization which combines monogamy with communal breeding. Our aim was to learn more about the activity budget and behavioural synchrony between mates of zoo-housed D. patagonum and thus contribute to research and conservation programs at modern zoos world-wide. We studied 28 animals housed at Córdoba Zoo (Argentina) under natural photoperiod and temperature conditions. We recorded behaviour once a week every hour from 8:00-18:00during a 28-day period and counted the total offspring at the end of the spring-summer season. The recorded activity budget was: resting (43%), feeding (25%) and alert (13%), the remaining categories accounting for less than 10%. Resting, feeding and alert were the only categories associated with hourly changes. We detected 48% behavioural synchrony between mates (both sexes engaging in the same behaviour at the same time) and counted a total of 23 offspring corresponding to one litter each for all producing females.The similarity between the behavioural response of these zoo-housed individuals and available data on the behaviour of D. patagonum in the wild, indicates that zoo-housed D. patagonum behavioural activities can be considered positive responses, providing useful information for the future development of reintroduction programs.