Behavioral Monitoring of Big Cats Involved in ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ Zoo Visitor Tours
Open accessAbstract
While interactive tours have been argued to hold great conservation potential for zoo visitors, the influence on the participating animal’s behavior is often ignored. To investigate this, we observed the behavior of one Sumatran tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) and three African lions (Panthera leo leo) involved in a protected contact tour, as well as that of three cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) involved in a hands-on tour, at Zoos South Australia. Instantaneous scan sampling (30-s intervals) was used to record animal behavior before, during, and after behind-the-scenes tours, as well as for equivalent times on non-tour days, over a three-month period. Estimated proximity (close, < 2 m; moderate, 2-5 m; and distant, > 5 m) to humans was also recorded as an indirect measure of interaction. The animals in the protected contact tour displayed decreased inactivity and increased feeding and pacing during the tours, compared to before and after. We suggest that the increased pacing is more associated with the animals being fed during the tours, rather than the tours being a stressful experience. Those in the hands-on tour showed variation in proportions of multiple behavior categories and primarily these were shifts in species-typical behaviors. In contrast to those in the protected contact tour, they showed decreased pacing during the tour sessions. No aggressive or otherwise antagonistic behaviors directed at humans were observed by animals in either tour, with these animals typically spending more than half of their tour times in distant proximity to keepers and visitors. Combined, these findings indicate that large felid behavior may be altered by participation in interactive tours, but that these changes are not necessarily indicative of compromised wellbeing. Additional research is needed to determine the impact that these experiences are having on the welfare of the animals. This study reinforces the potential for behavioral monitoring to be used as a method for assessing the influence of visitors on zoo animals.
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Research on close encounter experiences has been limited to reports on dolphins, felids, crowned lemurs, giraffes, armadillos, red-tailed hawks and hedgehogs.
“Research so far has been limited to reports on the behaviour and welfare of dolphins involved in encounters [147,148], felids in behind the scenes experiences [149], crowned lemurs [146] and giraffes [150] in visitor feeding programs, as well as one study on armadillos, red-tailed hawks and hedgehogs involved in an education program [151].”
From The visitor effect on zoo animals: implications and opportunities for zoo animal welfare (2019) · cites this paper as [149]
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The visitor effect on zoo animals: implications and opportunities for zoo animal welfare
Sherwen, S. L., & Hemsworth, P. H. (2019) · Animals · doi:10.3390/ani9060366 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
Hosey, G., & Melfi, V. (2015) · Zoo Biology · doi:10.1002/zoo.21182 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
- Authors
- Szokalski, M. S., Foster, W. K., & Litchfield, C. A.
- Affiliations
- University of South Australia (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Szokalski, Monika S.
- ORCID
- Litchfield, Carla A.
- Venue
- International Journal of Comparative Psychology
- Publisher
- California Digital Library (CDL)
- Published
- 2013
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 1
- ISSN
- 0889-3667 (ISSN-L)
- 2168-3344
- OpenAlex
- W2185439523
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 0.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- International Journal of Comparative Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Human-Animal Interaction Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
- Keywords
- zoo animal behavior, big cats, Sumatran tiger, African lion, cheetah, human-animal interaction, pacing behavior, feeding behavior, species-typical behavior, animal welfare, behavioral monitoring
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