What Is The Integrative Study Of Animal Behavior

     Tigers are the biggest member of the cat family, with lions coming in at a close second. Their paw pads are very sensitive and are easily damaged, which prevents them from following prey that may wonder on such things as rocks that are hot. Another interesting fact about the tiger is that there are no white tigers left in the wild, only in captivity. On top of that, all of the white tigers in captivity came from the same female, which was caught in 1952. White tigers are not true albinos because they lack pink eyes; theirs are blue. Tigers and lions have actually mated in captivity. The offspring of a male tiger and a female lion is called a Tigon, and offspring of a male lion and a female tiger is called a Liger.

Statistic: 54% of elephants in the UK showed mental illness symptoms 48% of lions spend most of their time pacing, which is seen as a recognized behavioral problem. (Caps, 2010).

Big cats species include lions, tigers, jaguars, cheetahs and many more. Big cat species exist in wide-ranging habitats including the savannas, tropical rain forests, mangrove swamps and boreal forests. The big cat populations are declining as the result of human threats. For the last thousands years, human populations are increasing at an unprecedented rate. The increase in human populations has caused the big cats population to encounter an ongoing poaching, loss of habitat, and pollutions.

Animals being held in captivity develop aggressive behavior. Captive is defined as “captured; held prisoner” (Captive). On 25 December 2007 a 350-pound “Siberian Tiger escaped from its grotto at the San Francisco Zoo…and went on a bloody rampage in front of terrified zoo patrons” (Rubenstein A-1). That same tiger chewed a zoo keepers arm during a scheduled feeding one month prior. In January 2011, in “Knoxville, Tennessee, an 8,000-pound elephant crushed a zookeeper to death inside a cage” (Venezia). In Scottsbluff, Nebraska “a zookeeper…had two fingers bitten off in an attack by two chimpanzees” (Caulfield). Animals in captivity did not willingly choose to be there. No guest would attack their host if they were in the zoo of their own free will. Animals that turn aggressive towards their trainers or keepers are not in the purest since of the word, happy. If an animal were happy in captivity, they would possess no reason to attack.

Lions are generally large animals that can kill a 3,000 pound animal.They live in prides with usually 15 members. Female lions do most of the hunting while males protect the pride. They have scissor like back teeth to help kill their prey. It adapted to be nocturnal and able to hunt at night. Lions also have strong sharp claws

responsible in creating. A common case amongst zoo animals is that of anxiety. This can be due to several factors in the zoo environment. This includes animals strict diet, the constant attention from zoo goers, lack of companions, and loss of freedom. The animals may be unaware to how they have ended up in their situation, but their instincts know something isn’t right. There have also been cases of depression with zoo animals. Most cases of depression are due to lack of companions or a loss of a companion, if a zoo animal is surrounded by a companion and the companion passes the behavior of the animal changes. For example, in NY Times article Zoo Animals and their Discontent by Alex Halberdtadt he mentions a male gibbon who struggled psychologically, displaying behavior qualities after the passing of his companion,” He ate less, moved less and sometimes refused to go on exhibit.” (paragraph 25 line 9-10). Behaviorist Virga believed the cause to be grief, which happened to last for a quarter of the year. The psychological effect physically caused the animal harm regarding its health. In the wild gibbons live a life with several companions so when one dies, the loss isn’t as tragic or mentally straining on the animal. This affliction zoos have on its animals is correlated to captivity in general.

Few behavior courses focus on domestic animal species or offer students the opportunity to handle different types of domestic animals and make in-person behavior observations, For students in the animals sciences or are interested in the animal sciences, many of those students anticipate careers requiring them to competently handle and manage animals, a course on applies domestic animal behavior would provide much needed practical and theoretical experience. A basic description of this course would be a study of domestic animal behavior and implications for management and care (Schneider,

Social skills also affect the emotions of an animal. When people hold these animals in captivity by themselves, they are not able to associate with any other animal which cause this animal to become miserable and depressed. In a Kenyan elephant orphanage, baby elephants who have seen their parents killed and their tusks removed from their bodies by poachers, wake up screaming in the middle of the night from nightmares. (5) Once the animals are held in captivity, they will never have the same hunting skills that they had before

Many Scientist have done experiments to see if animals have certain ways of communicating with each other and learning. Scientists then were interested to see if the nature has anything to do with the way they learn and communicate. It is interesting enough to understand how animals relate with each other and their ways of learning from one another. In this chapter there are different ways at which scientists looked at the effects of imprinting, the associative learning, and classical conditioning.

Cheetahs often have territories that overlap with territories of lions in Africa. Cheetahs have adapted their hunting patterns so that they do not interfere with lion hunting habits. When a hunting cheetah hears a lion call, they will often flee to avoid meeting the lion, (Bissett et al., 2015). Lions hunt more often during the day in Botswana, Africa. Because of this, male cheetahs tend to be more active in the late evening and early morning, while female cheetahs are more active in the late afternoon. This is also the case vice versa, if cheetahs and lions coexist in a place where lions hunt during the evening, cheetahs will hunt during the day. This allows them to avoid hunting at a similar time as their prospective mates, maximize hunting success, cut down on the risk from stronger predators, and retain behavioral

The Amur tiger, more commonly known as the Siberian tiger’s place origin remains unknown. However, there are two different theories that say otherwise. These big furry friends are scientifically called Panthera tigris altaica. The Siberian tiger is the largest wild cat in the world. It is best known for its unique stripes patterns. These rare designs lay on top of their fur covered skin. An average male tiger weighs around 660 pounds, and a female is about the same capacity, only a few pounds less. A healthy Siberian tiger is about ten to eleven feet long, from it’s nose to the end of it’s tail. No two tigers look the same, well that is due to their intriguing stripes that were mentioned earlier. Siberian tigers have fewer, paler stripes, compared to any other ordinary tiger. The research gathered will display how the Siberian tigers physical features, cultural habitat, and social conduct make it the most riveting animal in the world.

Lions are 1 of 5 big cats in our ecosystem. Lions are not dangerous unless they have to be. Lions are carnivores. Lions Zebras, Impalas, deer, and many other species that have lots of meat.Lions are mostly found out in Africa. In the U.S we have some lions in many different zoos. Lions stay the their mom until they are 2 ½ to 3 years old.

Tigers are amazing animals, probably the biggest cat to roam the Jungle. They are great learners, adapt to their surroundings, and accomplish anything of their main goal. They’re a little weak for when they are young, but when they are grown, they can rip you to smithereens. They can also be very sneaky, so sneaky, you can’t hear them even in a Library, they have thick paws which are very squishy to avoid making screeching noises when they stalk prey.

Animals live differently in different ecosystems. Many live more comfortable in some areas than others and vise versa. Every location has its ups and downs when it comes to how it lives and adapts. Lions are a species that can relate to that, when it comes to living in the wild and living in captivity. Something that separates wild vs. captivity is the lion’s food, health, and living environment.

The abuse of Big Cats in circuses is no secret, from tiny cages to being trained through punishment and food deprivation, big cats are exploited for entertainment use (PETA). The use of big cats in circuses can be found all over the world, but now thanks to Animal Defenders International, 33 big cats will no longer be subjected to circus entertainment. The New York Times called it, “the largest lion airlift ever”. The 33 lions, rescued from circuses in Central America are being sent back to their homeland in Limpopo, South Africa (Animal Defenders International).