A multi-enclosure study investigating the behavioural response of meerkats to zoo visitors

Studies conducted in immersive zoos with naturalistic exhibits found that the number of visitors had no impact on the welfare of captive animals.

“Other studies conducted in immersive zoos with naturalistic exhibits (Choo et al., 2011;Sherwen et al., 2014) showed similar results, demonstrating that the number of visitors had no impact on the welfare of captive animals.”

Studies that have investigated animal responses to visitors in immersive zoos all report minor effects of the presence of visitors on animal behaviour.

“Despite the limited number of studies that have investigated animal responses to visitors in immersive zoos, they all report minor effects of the presence of visitors on animal behaviour (Sherwen et al., 2014).”

Sherwen et al. [27] found no effect of signs on visitor numbers.

“In contrast, Sherwen, Magrath, Butler, Phillips and Hemsworth [27] found no effect of signs on visitor numbers.”

Other studies have found that signs can effectively regulate visitor behaviour.

“In comparison, other studies have found that signs can effectively regulate visitor behaviour [27,34].”

The literature on the effects of visitor interactions on zoo animals is ambiguous, with studies providing evidence for negative, neutral and positive impacts.

“However, the literature on the effects of visitor interactions on zoo animals is somewhat ambiguous, with studies providing evidence for a range of impacts interpreted as negative [12,13], neutral [14,15] and positive [16].”

Visitors can have negative, neutral or positive impacts on zoo animal behaviour and welfare.

“Decades of research on the visitor effect in zoos has demonstrated that visitors can have negative, neutral or positive impacts on zoo animal behaviour and welfare.”

A study on meerkats found no difference in meerkat behaviour at any site in response to the experimental reduction in intensity of visitor behaviour.

“a study on meerkats investigated the effect of reducing the intensity of visitor behaviour (e.g., noise levels and attempted interaction) on several groups of meerkats and found no difference in meerkat behaviour at any site in response to the experimental reduction in intensity of visitor behaviour [14].”