IDEA   23902
INSTITUTO DE DIVERSIDAD Y ECOLOGIA ANIMAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Evaluating the activity patterns of Caiman latirostris and its use of the enclosure in Cordoba Zoo (Argentina): a preliminary study.
Autor/es:
SIMONCINI, M.; LABAQUE, M.C.; VILLAREAL, D. ; PRYSTUPCZUK, L.; LEYNAUD, G.
Lugar:
Skukuza
Reunión:
Workshop; 24 th Working Meeting IUCN Cocodriles Specilist Group; 2016
Institución organizadora:
IUCN
Resumen:
Assessing animal welfare in zoos is a basic requirement to promote management measures that improve life conditions. Welfare may be initially assessed by Describing behavior of captive animals and their interaction with the environment. To date, no studies have described the repertoire of behaviors of Caiman latirostris and their use of the environment in zoos. We conducted a preliminary study of a C. latirostris population (4 adults and 3 juveniles) during the breeding season, which consisted of developing an ethogram based behavioral observations and supporting information taken from the literature of wild crocodilians. The frequency of each behavior was obtained through observations and considered individual size (discriminating adults from juveniles). Using a chi-square test contingency table, we evaluated the association between individual size and behavior frequency. Behaviors were recorded between 9:00 and 18:00 hrs during 26 days (December 2015-March 2016). Simultaneously, the location of each individual was recorded using a scan sampling to analyze use of space by the group as a whole and according to size via a modified Spread of Participation Index (SPI), often used in studies of zoo animals. The enclosure, which consists of a 130-m2 artificial lake and a central 90-m2 island, was divided into 10 zones, depending on the presence/absence of food, proximity to the visitors, and/or following the structural limits of the environment. Thirty different behaviors performed in 5533 events (juveniles 2064; adults 3469) were recorded. The most common behaviors were: (a) semi-submerged (20.8%), (b) walking (17.8%), (c) in the shade (12.1%), (d) swimming without immersion ( 13.3%), (e) basking (10.2%) and (f) swimming with immersion (5.8%), whereas the remaining behaviors, such as aggressions, courtship and copulation, had frequencies below 5%. Adults showed a higher frequency of behaviors a, d and f, related to the lake sector, whereas juvenile showed a higher frequency of behaviors b, c and e, related to the island sector. Adults? preference for water may be related to thermoregulatory behavior; therefore, this behavior could change at different times of the day. Consequently, it would be interesting to assess possible differences in patterns of behavior associated with different sizes and at different times of day. SPI for the whole population revealed limited use of space (SPI = 0.373), with adults (SPI = 0.340) showing greater use than juveniles (SPI = 0.524). Although preliminary, these results are consistent with a hierarchical behavior associated with animal size, which could be exacerbated during the reproductive period in mixed groups, such as those housed in Cordoba Zoo. These results are the baseline for the development of a framework project aiming at identifying and assessing key behaviors; this information will be useful for adapting the enclosure of these animals and therefore improve their welfare.