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Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)

Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2020.

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Other Authors: Somers, Michael J.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Somers, Michael J.
author_browse Somers, Michael J.
author_facet Somers, Michael J.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2020.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/78534
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:13.892Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/78534 Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820) Somers, Michael J. salcat70@yahoo.com Hunter Burnam, Sally C. Wildlife Management UCTD Dissertation (MSc (Wildlife Management))--University of Pretoria, 2020. As natural habitat is lost, the need for keeping and breeding animals in zoological gardens is increasing. For animal welfare reasons and to promote health and effective breeding having as close to natural enclosures has become essential on zoological gardens. A clear understanding of how an animal uses its space and activity budgets may be required to understand their biological requirements more fully in zoological environments. The findings in these behaviour observations will aid the design of exhibits and, in turn, potentially maximize the animals’ welfare. The welfare of animals in human care often has been examined in relation to the amount of space provided. However, more recently, welfare has been assessed by the quantity and the quality of the space being given. In this study, I examined two different packs of African painted dogs (Lycaon pictus) in two separate outside, naturalistic enclosures at the San Diego Zoo (SDZ) and Bronx Zoo (BZ). I use electivity indices as a tool to determine under and over-utilized exhibit areas. This type of index provides a novel way of measuring spatial preferences. Areas that are used in greater proportion than their availability in the environment are considered over-utilized. Conversely, areas that are proportionately under-utilized are avoided. In this study, I also looked at “rest” and “locomotion” behaviours to determine if the African painted dogs in these zoos show the crepuscular activity of their wild counterparts. I also looked at “stereotypic” behaviours and whether they were more significant at specific times of day. Because of the crepuscular activity, complex social structure, and nomadic nature of painted dogs; managers of zoological facilities have a challenge ensuring a suitable exhibit for these animals. An activity budget formula was used for observations during each designated time frame (morning, noon, evening, and dusk) and the average behaviour during the entire day. This was found also to be highly influenced by the presence of humans. In this instance, the SDZ dogs preferred the area near the keeper area. The times that they were more active in the area, keepers were present, and therefore some of the dog’s behaviour could be attributed to the anticipation of movement or food. The lack of stereotypic behaviour in the BZ dogs was not expected, while the SDZ dogs may have only had higher instances of stereotypies because of the trauma within the pack. There is a risk of negatively influencing ‘natural’ behaviours of African painted dogs in zoological facilities. This study was completed to influence how zoological managers create ‘naturalistic’ exhibits for several different wide-ranging, nomadic, and charismatic species of carnivores. This research has influenced how I currently care for the Chinese dholes (Cuon alpinus) at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Zoology and Entomology MSc (Wildlife Management) Restricted 2021-02-12T10:06:49Z 2021-02-12T10:06:49Z 2021 2020 Dissertation * A2021 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78534 en © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle Wildlife Management
UCTD
Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)
title Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)
title_full Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)
title_fullStr Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)
title_full_unstemmed Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)
title_short Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)
title_sort using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for african painted dogs lycaon pictus temminck 1820
topic Wildlife Management
UCTD
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78534