Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures

Animal welfare encompasses the physical and mental state of an animal, as well as how that animal is cared for. Recently, zoological settings have shifted from strictly housing animals to improving the welfare of the animal such that the goal of captivity is for residents to thrive. This is especial...

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Main Author: Lawson, Alexis Michelle
Format: Text
Language:unknown
Published: Montclair State University Digital Commons 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1304
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/context/etd/article/2306/viewcontent/lawson_Redacted.pdf
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spelling ftmontclairstuni:oai:digitalcommons.montclair.edu:etd-2306 2023-07-23T04:21:12+02:00 Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures Lawson, Alexis Michelle 2023-05-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1304 https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/context/etd/article/2306/viewcontent/lawson_Redacted.pdf unknown Montclair State University Digital Commons https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1304 https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/context/etd/article/2306/viewcontent/lawson_Redacted.pdf Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects Biology Zoology text 2023 ftmontclairstuni 2023-07-03T21:57:41Z Animal welfare encompasses the physical and mental state of an animal, as well as how that animal is cared for. Recently, zoological settings have shifted from strictly housing animals to improving the welfare of the animal such that the goal of captivity is for residents to thrive. This is especially crucial as global wildlife numbers and biodiversity continues to decrease due to anthropogenic impacts such as poaching, mining, habitat destruction, fragmentation. Further confounding this issue is climate change, air pollution, invasive species, ocean acidification, and more. In particular, the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is an endangered species whose declined 50% within last three generations (20 years). Thus, maintaining captive populations, and ensuring their subsequent reproductive success, is vital for the longevity and diversity of this species. To examine the welfare of zoo-housed red pandas, behavioral assessments were made in response to different environmental variables, including visitor number, weather, temperature, environmental change, and the presence or absence of a conspecific. From February to December of 2022, observations were made for three-hour sessions one to two times per week at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo, located in West Orange, New Jersey. It was found that zoo visitor numbers and time with a conspecific were most important factors in determining stereotypies in subjects. Behaviors indicative of stress were significantly correlated with higher temperatures and visitor numbers, while more time with a conspecific reduced stress-linked behaviors. It was also discovered that pacing duration was significantly predicted by environmental factors, with again, zoo visitor numbers being the most influential. Overall, this study identified significant correlations between environmental factors with space use and behavior, establishing a valuable starting point for the development of zoo management strategies with the goal of reducing stress and improving captive red panda welfare. Text Ocean acidification Montclair State University Digital Commons
institution Open Polar
collection Montclair State University Digital Commons
op_collection_id ftmontclairstuni
language unknown
topic Biology
Zoology
spellingShingle Biology
Zoology
Lawson, Alexis Michelle
Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures
topic_facet Biology
Zoology
description Animal welfare encompasses the physical and mental state of an animal, as well as how that animal is cared for. Recently, zoological settings have shifted from strictly housing animals to improving the welfare of the animal such that the goal of captivity is for residents to thrive. This is especially crucial as global wildlife numbers and biodiversity continues to decrease due to anthropogenic impacts such as poaching, mining, habitat destruction, fragmentation. Further confounding this issue is climate change, air pollution, invasive species, ocean acidification, and more. In particular, the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) is an endangered species whose declined 50% within last three generations (20 years). Thus, maintaining captive populations, and ensuring their subsequent reproductive success, is vital for the longevity and diversity of this species. To examine the welfare of zoo-housed red pandas, behavioral assessments were made in response to different environmental variables, including visitor number, weather, temperature, environmental change, and the presence or absence of a conspecific. From February to December of 2022, observations were made for three-hour sessions one to two times per week at Essex County Turtle Back Zoo, located in West Orange, New Jersey. It was found that zoo visitor numbers and time with a conspecific were most important factors in determining stereotypies in subjects. Behaviors indicative of stress were significantly correlated with higher temperatures and visitor numbers, while more time with a conspecific reduced stress-linked behaviors. It was also discovered that pacing duration was significantly predicted by environmental factors, with again, zoo visitor numbers being the most influential. Overall, this study identified significant correlations between environmental factors with space use and behavior, establishing a valuable starting point for the development of zoo management strategies with the goal of reducing stress and improving captive red panda welfare.
format Text
author Lawson, Alexis Michelle
author_facet Lawson, Alexis Michelle
author_sort Lawson, Alexis Michelle
title Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures
title_short Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures
title_full Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures
title_fullStr Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures
title_full_unstemmed Environmental Drivers of Stress in Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens) : Behavior and Space Use Changes in Response to Redesigned Naturalistic Enclosures
title_sort environmental drivers of stress in red pandas (ailurus fulgens) : behavior and space use changes in response to redesigned naturalistic enclosures
publisher Montclair State University Digital Commons
publishDate 2023
url https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1304
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/context/etd/article/2306/viewcontent/lawson_Redacted.pdf
genre Ocean acidification
genre_facet Ocean acidification
op_source Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects
op_relation https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1304
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/context/etd/article/2306/viewcontent/lawson_Redacted.pdf
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