Hediger revisited: how do zoo animals see us?

The effect of visitors on the welfare of captive animals has been widely studied for more than four decades.

“While the effect of visitors on the welfare of captive animals has been widely studied for more than four decades (Hosey, 2000;Davey, 2007;Hosey, 2013)”

The model suggests that Human-Animal Relationships in zoos can be characterised as negative, neutral or positive.

“This model suggests that HARs in zoos can be characterised in three ways: (i) a negative relationship, where the animal is highly fearful of humans and shows avoidance, (ii) a neutral relationship, if interactions with humans have no consequences for the animal and can lead to habituation to humans, or (iii) a positive relationship, where the animal will potentially experience positive emotions”

If animals perceive humans as an inanimate part of the environment, this is likely to lead to a neutral relationship with no consequence for the animal.

“Lastly, if animals perceive humans as an inanimate part of the environment, this is likely to lead to a neutral relationship with no consequence for the animal [30].”

The level of fear varies between species according to evolutionary history factors such as whether they are a prey species or a predator or possess traits such as boldness or shyness.

“It is the level of fear that will vary between species according to certain evolutionary history factors, such as whether they are a prey species or a predator or possess traits such as boldness or shyness [29,30].”

Hosey developed the model based on Hediger's early suggestion that humans could potentially be significant to animals as an enemy, prey, a symbiont, an inanimate part of the environment or as a member of the same species.

“Hosey [25,30] developed this model based on Hediger’s [33] early suggestion that humans could potentially be significant to animals in one of five ways; as an enemy, prey, a symbiont, an inanimate part of the environment or as a member of the same species.”

A model of the Human-Animal Relationship for the zoo setting was proposed by Hosey, refined and updated in 2013, and presented by Ward and Sherwen.

“A model of the HAR for the zoo setting was proposed by Hosey [25], then refined and updated in 2013 [30] and presented by Ward and Sherwen [32].”

Behaviours such as aggression, avoidance and stereotypies have been used as indicators of negative welfare states, particularly associated with fear and stress.

“Behaviours such as aggression, avoidance and stereotypies have been used as indicators of negative welfare states, particularly associated with fear and stress [30,48,49].”

The response of a prey species to humans is likely to differ from the response of a large predatory species.

“with the response of a prey species to humans likely to differ from the response of a large predatory species [30].”

It is difficult to draw conclusions about the extent to which species traits impact an animal's response to visitors because of disproportionate representation of studies across taxa, with most studies on non-human primate species, and large variation in methodology used to assess animal welfare.

“it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the extent to which species traits impact an animal’s response to visitors because of the disproportionate representation of studies across taxa, with most studies on non-human primate species (Table A1, [30,116]), as well as the large variation in the methodology used to assess animal welfare.”