Social Effects Of Captivity On Animal Behavior

I . Animal captivity is common in many zoos and aquariums worldwide. It has been going on for more than 50 years and many people enjoy watching it but it needs to end right away. Animals captivity is when they take a healthy animal from the wild and put them in bad conditions that tend to make them die faster. There has been a lot of deaths of animals and people from animals in captivity because they got taken away from their homes, and they aren’t used to being touched or screamed at to do something which they don't do it the wild. Cruelty towards animals in captivity can be reduced if animals could no longer be in captivity.

The issue on whether or not to keep animals in captivity has been debated heavily for a long time. With species such as the panda on the verge of extinction to mistreatment of marine mammals in theme parks such as Sea World, keeping wild animals under the care of humans has been a struggle and a highly controversial topic. Even though many people believe that animals should not be kept in captivity because humans are incapable of fully understanding and providing specific needs for wild animals, certain animals can be kept happy and healthy in captivity, and these animals are an important educational tool for teaching people of all ages about biology, biodiversity, and the ecosystems of the world.

Traditionally, stereotypic behaviors, or repeated behaviors that do not appear to have a function, like pacing, head-bobbing, and swaying are common in zoos and aquaria, which was an extreme red flag to those facilities about thirty years ago. After seeing these behaviors, professionals in animal fields began suggesting that captive environments were largely not meeting the needs of captive nonhuman animals. Further, they began suggesting that stereotypies arose from captive environments that were too understimulating, which negatively affected captive animals well-being. In turn, zoos and aquaria

Many people have memories of visiting a zoo or an aquarium in their childhood, but are they safe for the animals inside? Indicators for both support and opposition exist, making the debate double sided and more complex than originally thought. For example, SeaWorld recently shut down their orca breeding program because the whales were being harmed. Despite this, animals in captivity may be a necessity. Habitats being destroyed and the threat of predators and poachers are becoming more common. Zoos and aquariums can provide a safe haven from these dangers. Alternatively, some zoos and aquariums can be even more dangerous for the animals than if they were in their natural habitat. Mistreatment of animals in captivity is a problem that only seems

Laboratory animals that escape outright physical pain and discomfort are almost always subjected to isolation, depression and anxiety. In fact the worst evil we inflict upon animals condemned to scientific research may be the act of removing them from the natural habitat, or breeding them in captivity, and then placing them in the artificial environment of a laboratory cage, where they have no hope of having the kind of life nature intended for them.

Did you know that in 2018, The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus will be retiring their elephant act (Mendoza). The topic I will be discussing with you guys today is animals in captivity, or otherwise known as zoos and aquatic centers. We need to care about this topic because people and protestors are taking it out of hand. Some animals need zoos to care for them. I personally care for this topic because zoos are a fun thing to do with your family or friends. As long as they?re not hurting something they shouldn?t be, I don?t see why it is a bad thing. Today I will be arguing with Haylee on why animals in captivity isn?t a bad thing.

Animals have been known to control and also are able to modify their environment. An important part in doing that, animals exhibit normal behavior. Animals that are being held in captive environments may see changes in their normal behavior that can be a result from extreme amounts of stress. When animals start to exhibit behaviors that are considered abnormal it can be thought that the animals are unable to adjust their behavior. So what affects could captive animals have on experiments; validity, reliability, and replicability. Validity can be affected when researchers introduce abnormal animals into the experiment. When introducing these abnormal individuals the variation of

The zoo is packed with children, running everywhere. They laugh and smile as they watch the animals at the zoo sleep. What these children do not realize is that these animals are dying on the inside. Animals that live at the zoo are extremely depressed. These animals can suffer severe psychological disorders from being out of their natural environment. But others argue that keeping these animals in captivity will help keep endangered species alive. However, the disadvantages of keeping animals in captivity are becoming more and more serious, and more people are beginning to believe that animals should not be held captive. Animals should not be kept in captivity because of the negative impact it can have

For several generations, animals have been entertaining humans. From sitting in zoo exhibits to being paraded around in flashy circuses, animals, especially exotic ones, have drawn large audiences. A close look at a ferocious lion or a dancing elephant wearing a headdress is often what captivates people, since these spectacles are often unusual and fascinating. However, for lions to be viewed up close and elephants to dance, they must be held captive and trained for desired behavior. This captivity and training raises a question: is captivity detrimental to global animal ecology and health? Many animal activists claim that captivity is abusive, but animal entertainment organizations, such as zoos, circuses, and animal theme parks, promote environmental health through ecological education of children and adults as well as funding research for conservation.

The importance of analyzing animal behavior inside, and outside, of confinement is necessary to arrive at any conclusion regarding keeping exotic animals in captivity to improve population conservation. In order to determine which natural behaviors improve, or are indicators of good welfare, and which natural behaviors are not, it must be determined if the health of the animal is improved from allowing it to behave naturally, and under its own desire (Dawkins, 2006). In order to consider captive breeding for conservation a necessary practice, part of the process must be determining if the animals are able to perform normal behaviors, similar to behaviors displayed in the wild population. For example, social behaviors of orangutans were shown

Over the centuries, wild animals have always fascinated humans. As a result, wild animals have been put on display, but the logistics of these displays have changed throughout the years to resemble zoos humans now visit (Rutledge et al, 2014). Enclosures were once very small and did not provide the opportunity for stimulation that the animals need. There has been a shift from small, sterile enclosures to larger, more natural enclosures (Shepherdson, 1998). This change in the care of captive animals was caused by an interest in studying the animals (Shepherdson, 1998). Studies have revealed the importance of providing captive animals with an environment in which behaviors typical of the captive species, when in the wild, can be exercised in the enclosures in which they are housed (Shepherdson, 1998). By mimicking a natural habitat, scientists are able to observe more natural behavior. If enrichment is not provided, stereotypic behavior such as pacing, aggression, and abnormal behavior, may occur. In order to discourage these stereotypic behaviors, zoologists have begun implementing enrichment programs to stimulate the captive animals to exhibit more natural behaviors (Swaisgood and Shepherdson, 2005).

Not only do animals not like being held in captivity but also it gives them stress, anxiety and

“Animals in captivity are affected by extreme boredom, lack of appropriate exercise, poor quality food and a lack of variety of food, especially in poorly run facilities” (Education Reform, Choo). Imagine you got ripped out of your home and put in a small cage with no interaction with other animals and terrible food. You have no idea what's going on and what's going to happen to you, that's was animal's face everyday in captivity. Animals in captivity are abandoned and not fed the right foods, they do not get treated right and get pulled out of there families just to be put in a small cage. Studies show that animals in captivity have a shorter life span and they are more likely to get depressed when they are taken away from their families.

The effects of stress on captive zoo animals has been a major concern among zoologists as well as zookeepers in recent years (Fernandez et al.2009). In previous studies, one of the major factors inducing stress in captive animals that appears to have been overlooked, are the noise levels created by the presence of zoo visitors and the effectiveness of the design of indoor zoo exhibits in reducing the noise levels in particular. While research exists showing that the presence of zoo visitors can be a source of enrichment for captive animals, particularly those who are social by nature, further investigations have indicated that visitor presence can in fact be a source of stress in non-social species including felids (Hosey 2000).

Although keepers have provided forms of enrichment to zoo animals for years, interest in scientifically raising captive animals’ standard of living has grown (Ben-Ari, 2001). Behavioral engineering, also known as behavioral, animal, or environmental enrichment, is a type of husbandry technique used to better the physiological and psychological states of animals, conserve species by raising the rate of reproduction, diversify suitable behaviors, reduce stress and predatory and aggressive acts, increase learning ability, and/or provide animals with exercise, entertainment, or some sense of control in their environment (Ben-Ari, 2001). Enrichment can take many forms, such as the addition of novelty objects to an animal’s environment, renovating exhibits, and training (Ben-Ari, 2001). However, Ben-Ari (2001) details the emergence of a standardized scientific method of enrichment, in which enrichment strategies are planned, executed, observed, documented, assessed, and then modified. Nevertheless, intensive studies are not feasible for all zoos (Ben-Ari, 2001). For example, only 2 percent of enrichment at Disney’s Animal Kingdom is evaluated through 12 weeklong projects (Ben-Ari, 2001). Although not widespread yet, these types of strategies take animals’ mental states and behaviors exhibited in the wild into account (Ben-Ari, 2001). Because biologists have not documented every species’ wild behavior,