The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens)
Abstract Though some research exists concerning general behavior and activity patterns of Walruses in zoos or aquariums, less is known about how these patterns change in response to various environmental and temporal contexts. This study presents two studies assessing behavioral changes in relation...
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crwiley:10.1002/zoo.20272 2024-06-23T07:55:55+00:00 The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) Franks, Becca Lyn, Heidi Klein, Lauren Reiss, Diana 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20272 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fzoo.20272 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/zoo.20272 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Zoo Biology volume 29, issue 3, page 397-404 ISSN 0733-3188 1098-2361 journal-article 2009 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20272 2024-06-11T04:41:52Z Abstract Though some research exists concerning general behavior and activity patterns of Walruses in zoos or aquariums, less is known about how these patterns change in response to various environmental and temporal contexts. This study presents two studies assessing behavioral changes in relation to feeding period, object enrichment (OE), and season in a social group of four Pacific Walruses at the New York Aquarium. Study 1 examined behavior in relation to feeding context (nonfeed, prefeed, postfeed); data were collected over a three‐week period, resulting in 47 observation sessions for each feeding context. Study 2 examined behavior in relation to OE and season; data were collected in two phases resulting in 12 enrichment and 9 no‐enrichment (NE) observation sessions (Phase 1), and 21 enrichment and 18 NE observation sessions (Phase 2). Study 1 showed that after feeding, oral behavior increased while social behavior and total swim frequency decreased. In Study 2, both swim frequency and social behavior were found to interact with OE and phase, while oral behavior remained constant across all conditions. As in the wild, both studies found all animals to be swimming the majority of the time. Though every animal spent much of its swim time engaged in an Individual Swimming Pattern (ISP), both studies showed that the proportion of ISP (in relation to total time swimming) remained stable across all contexts, suggesting a potential functional role of the ISPs. These results are discussed in light of the ongoing debate over the role of stereotypies in welfare assessment. Zoo Biol 29:397–404, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Article in Journal/Newspaper Odobenus rosmarus walrus* Wiley Online Library Pacific Zoo Biology 29 3 397 404 |
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English |
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Abstract Though some research exists concerning general behavior and activity patterns of Walruses in zoos or aquariums, less is known about how these patterns change in response to various environmental and temporal contexts. This study presents two studies assessing behavioral changes in relation to feeding period, object enrichment (OE), and season in a social group of four Pacific Walruses at the New York Aquarium. Study 1 examined behavior in relation to feeding context (nonfeed, prefeed, postfeed); data were collected over a three‐week period, resulting in 47 observation sessions for each feeding context. Study 2 examined behavior in relation to OE and season; data were collected in two phases resulting in 12 enrichment and 9 no‐enrichment (NE) observation sessions (Phase 1), and 21 enrichment and 18 NE observation sessions (Phase 2). Study 1 showed that after feeding, oral behavior increased while social behavior and total swim frequency decreased. In Study 2, both swim frequency and social behavior were found to interact with OE and phase, while oral behavior remained constant across all conditions. As in the wild, both studies found all animals to be swimming the majority of the time. Though every animal spent much of its swim time engaged in an Individual Swimming Pattern (ISP), both studies showed that the proportion of ISP (in relation to total time swimming) remained stable across all contexts, suggesting a potential functional role of the ISPs. These results are discussed in light of the ongoing debate over the role of stereotypies in welfare assessment. Zoo Biol 29:397–404, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Franks, Becca Lyn, Heidi Klein, Lauren Reiss, Diana |
spellingShingle |
Franks, Becca Lyn, Heidi Klein, Lauren Reiss, Diana The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) |
author_facet |
Franks, Becca Lyn, Heidi Klein, Lauren Reiss, Diana |
author_sort |
Franks, Becca |
title |
The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) |
title_short |
The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) |
title_full |
The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) |
title_fullStr |
The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) |
title_full_unstemmed |
The influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of Pacific Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus divergens) |
title_sort |
influence of feeding, enrichment, and seasonal context on the behavior of pacific walruses ( odobenus rosmarus divergens) |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20272 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fzoo.20272 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/zoo.20272 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Odobenus rosmarus walrus* |
genre_facet |
Odobenus rosmarus walrus* |
op_source |
Zoo Biology volume 29, issue 3, page 397-404 ISSN 0733-3188 1098-2361 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.20272 |
container_title |
Zoo Biology |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
397 |
op_container_end_page |
404 |
_version_ |
1802648732474277888 |