Ecology and welfare of aquatic animals in wild capture fisheries

The expansion of commercial aquaculture production has raised awareness of issues relating to the welfare of aquatic animals. The “Five Freedoms” approach to animal welfare was originally devised for farmed terrestrial animals, and has been applied in some countries to aquatic animals reared in aquaculture due to several commonalities inherent within food production systems. There are now moves towards assessing and addressing aquatic animal welfare issues that may arise in wild capture fisheries. However, all “five freedoms” are regularly contradicted in the natural environment, meaning this concept is inappropriate when considering the welfare of aquatic animals in their natural environments. The feelings-based approach to welfare relies on a suffering centered view that, when applied to the natural aquatic environment, requires use of value judgements, cannot encompass scientific uncertainty regarding awareness in fish, elasmobranchs and invertebrates (despite their unquestioned welfare needs), and cannot resolve the welfare conundrums posed by predator–prey interactions or anthropocentrically mediated environmental degradation. For these reasons, the feelings-based approach to welfare is inadequate, inappropriate and must be rejected if applied to aquatic animals in wild capture fisheries, because it demonstrably ignores empirical evidence and several realities apparent within the natural aquatic environment. Furthermore, application of the feelings-based approach is counterproductive as it can alienate key fisheries stakeholders, many of whom are working to address environmental issues of critical importance to the welfare, management and conservation of aquatic animal populations in their natural environment. In contrast, the function-based and nature-based approaches for defining animal welfare appear appropriate for application to the broad range of welfare issues (including emerging environmental issues such as endocrine disruption) that affect aquatic animals in their natural environment, without the need to selectively ignore groups such as elasmobranchs and invertebrates. We consider that the welfare needs of aquatic animals are inextricably entwined with the need for conservation of their populations, communities and their environment, an approach that is entirely consistent with the concept of ecosystem-based management.     

Modelling Ex Situ Animal Behaviour and Communication

Communication and behaviour of animals living ex situ has been one of the major sources of knowledge about wild animals. Nevertheless, it is also acknowledged that depending on the environment that the animals inhabit (or are kept in), there are differences in their communication and behaviour. With some species (especially large mammals) it is difficult to reproduce their natural environment to an extent that excludes deviations from the behaviour and communication exhibited by animals living in situ. In zoological gardens, welfare measures are introduced in order to counteract the effects of the captive environment and to grant an individual’s good physical and psychological well-being. The relation between good welfare and species-specific communication and behaviour is discussed, and as a result, a general model of ex situ animal communication and behaviour is proposed. The suggested model is inclusive of differences between captive animals and free-ranging animals and serves to explain the welfare-related reasons underlying individual animal’s deviations from species-specific behaviour and communication.     

Industrial Food Animal Production and Global Health Risks: Exploring the Ecosystems and Economics of Avian Influenza

Many emerging infectious diseases in human populations are associated with zoonotic origins. Attention has often focused on wild animal reservoirs, but most zoonotic pathogens of recent concern to human health either originate in, or are transferred to, human populations from domesticated animals raised for human consumption. Thus, the ecological context of emerging infectious disease comprises two overlapping ecosystems: the natural habitats and populations of wild animals, and the anthropogenically controlled habitats and populations of domesticated species. Intensive food animal production systems and their associated value chains dominate in developed countries and are increasingly important in developing countries. These systems are characterized by large numbers of animals being raised in confinement with high throughput and rapid turnover. Although not typically recognized as such, industrial food animal production generates unique ecosystems—environments that may facilitate the evolution of zoonotic pathogens and their transmission to human populations. It is often assumed that confined food animal production reduces risks of emerging zoonotic diseases. This article provides evidence suggesting that these industrial systems may increase animal and public health risks unless there is recognition of the specific biosecurity and biocontainment challenges of the industrial model. Moreover, the economic drivers and constraints faced by the industry and its participants must be fully understood in order to inform preventative policy. In order to more effectively reduce zoonotic disease risk from industrial food animal production, private incentives for the implementation of biosecurity must align with public health interests.     

成年野生黄山短尾猴的个性特征类型及其性别差异

社会性动物的个性特征是对环境和社群的适应性结果,对个性的研究是探究群居动物复杂社会关系及其差异的重要内容。相对于个性特征评级法和行为编码法,自然观察法是分析判断野生动物个性特征较为理想的方法之一,最大限度地突出了野生动物的自然属性及个性特征类型。本研究以栖息于安徽黄山的野生短尾猴投食群体鱼鳞坑A1群为研究对象,采用目标动物取样法和全事件记录法,于2015年7月至2016年6月期间采集成年个体自然发生的行为数据,并采用主成分分析方法判断成年个体的个性特征及类型,并分析性别差异。结果表明：成年雄性个体具有5种个性特征,即领导型、内向型、社交型、孤僻型以及受欺凌型,成年雌性个体具有6种个性特征,即领导型、孤僻型、内向型、不安型、神经质型以及友好型。研究结果与已有结果一致,说明自然观察法可能是分析野生动物个性类型的较好 选择,同时,不同性别之间个性类型的差异性进一步显示了野生动物自然属性。本研究为深入理解动物个体水平上的差异性及适应性提供了科学依据。     

Semantic Profiles of Zoos and Their Animals

ABSTRACT

I administered surveys to 156 university students to explore issues related to animal charisma or show value. Specifically, students ranked species as to their desirability to see on a zoo tour and to work with professionally as a zoo biologist; rated the semantic connotations of these species; rated the semantic connotations of the zoo, wild animal park, and nature reserve; and rated the connotations of two charismatic and two biophobic animal species in three habitats. On a zoo tour, respondents want to see species that are large, attractive, strong, and uncommon, but prefer to work professionally with species that are friendly and safe. Students viewed the zoo as a somewhat active, large place, with overall positive connotations. However, it ranks lower than the wild animal park and the nature reserve on the value dimension. Species are considered less active and less strong when caged than when free in their natural habitat or in an animal sanctuary. The different habitats had less effect in the value dimension. This is true for both charismatic and biophobic species.     

Interpreting co-variation in species richness and productivity in terrestrial vegetation: Making sense of causations and correlations at multiple scales

This commentary examines conventional and recent ideas regarding the interpretation of species richness-productivity relationships (SRPR) in terrestrial vegetation. A new conceptual modelling approach — cascading graph diagrams — is used to search for maximum parsimony by distilling and clarifying synthetic linkages between several potential causes of variation and co-variation in these two vegetation attributes at three distinctly different spatial scales: global/continental scale (variation between climatic/geographic regions within a continent, or across latitudes); regional scale (variation between local communities representing different habitat (soil) fertility types or different habitat disturbance levels within a climatic/geographic region); and local community scale (variation between neighbourhood plots within a particular plant community/habitat). In contrast with a number of interpretations in recent literature, the approach developed here emphases that SRPR at each scale in terrestrial vegetation involve a “cascade” of several intermediary causational variables that have not been generally accounted for in previous studies of SRPR. Accordingly, SRPR are expected usually to be correlational, sometimes indirectly causational, but never directly causational, at any scale. Rather than suggesting that causational mechanisms “scale up”, the analysis here illustrates that several mechanistic features may be shared across scales and that in some cases, mechanisms may “scale down”. This has crucial implications for identifying testable and un-confounded hypotheses for future research and for selecting effective experimental designs and appropriate methods of data analyses for the interpretation of SRPR in natural vegetation.     

Female nile hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) space use in a naturalistic exhibit

Zoological institutions provide naturalistic exhibits for their animals in order to offer a more appealing look for visitors and give the animal the opportunity to engage in more natural behaviors. Examining space use of the animals in the naturalistic exhibit may aid in the management of these animals and inform future naturalistic exhibit design. The hippopotamus is an amphibious ungulate that spends much of its days in the wild in the water but may be found along the banks of the rivers basking in the sun. Our objective was to determine how captive female hippos utilize their exhibit by examining whether hippos selected for certain areas of a naturalistic exhibit. Scan sample data were collected on a group of nine captive female hippos housed at Disney's Animal Kingdom®. Using ArcView, the data were analyzed to determine distribution of hippos in the exhibit and their utilization of depth categories while in the water. Hippos were found to aggregate in preferred areas of the exhibit, mostly water, and selected most for water depths of 0.6–1.0 m. These results will aid in the understanding of hippopotamus space use and may aid zoological institutions in the design of naturalistic exhibits for hippos. Zoo Biol 31: 129–136, 2012. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Response to human presence during nocturnal line transect surveys in fallow deer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Dama dama</Emphasis>) and wild boar (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sus scrofa</Emphasis>)

The use of line transect methodology and portable thermal imaging for ground survey of wildlife should require a good knowledge of the behavioural response of the animals to the presence of an observer, in order to take into account the potential bias in density estimate caused by deviation from the assumption that distances are recorded at the initial position. We used ten fallow deer and eight wild boar fitted with radiocollars to investigate animals’ response during simulated nocturnal line transect surveys, carried out in a Mediterranean plain forest. The experiment consisted in radiolocating a focal animal before and after an observer walked a transect nearby (<100 m). Each transect line was followed using a Global Positioning System (GPS) navigator. We carried out a total of 64 trials on fallow deer and 57 on wild boar. Results showed that despite most of the animals moved significantly in response to the observer (mean ± standard error, wild boar—95.3 ± 10.0 m; fallow deer—149.6 ± 14.2 m), the flying patterns were different in the two species: the reaction of fallow deer turned out to be more intense and directional with respect to that showed by wild boar. Although these results sound explorative, the experiment attempted here, for the first time, is relevant for an appropriate design of nocturnal distance-sampling surveys and gives information about potential bias arising from animal’s behavioural response. We believe that these first results may foster more in-deep analyses which are now made possible with the adoption of GPS technology for animal location.     

Molecular Epidemiology of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leptospira</Emphasis> Serogroup Pomona Infections Among Wild and Domestic Animals in Spain

Strains of Leptospira serogroup Pomona are known to cause widespread animal infections in many parts of the world. Forty-three isolates retrieved from domestic animals and wild small mammals suggest that serogroup Pomona is epidemiologically relevant in Spain. This is supported by the high prevalence of serovar Pomona antibodies in livestock and wild animals. In this study, the strains were serologically and genetically characterized in an attempt to elucidate their epidemiology. Serological typing was based on the microscopic agglutination test but molecular typing involved species-specific polymerase chain reaction, restriction endonuclease analysis, and multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat analysis. The study revealed that the infections are caused by two serovars, namely Pomona and Mozdok. Serovar Pomona was derived only from farm animals and may be adapted to pigs, which are recognized as the maintenance host. The results demonstrated that serovar Pomona is genetically heterogeneous and three different types were recognized. This heterogeneity was correlated with different geographical distributions of the isolates. All strains derived from small wild mammals were identified as serovar Mozdok. Some isolates of this serovar retrieved from cattle confirm that this serovar may also be the cause of infections in food-producing animals for which these wild species may be source of infection.     

Encouraging natural feeding behavior in captive-bred black and white ruffed lemurs (Varecia variegata variegata)

Captive breeding of endangered species is commonly proposed as a means of conserving biodiversity. The suggestion is that captive populations can be built up to provide individuals to reinforce or re-establish wild populations. However, there is evidence to suggest that captive-bred animals lack the skills necessary for survival in their natural habitat. This research was designed to assess whether a group of captive-bred Varecia variegata variegata exhibit such behavioral deficiencies in relation to feeding behavior compared to two wild groups. A further aim was to determine which of four methods of food presentation and two captive environments were most effective in encouraging the exhibition of natural feeding behavior. An identical focal animal, instantaneous time-sampling technique was used to collect data from the wild groups in the Betampona Reserve, Madagascar, and the captive group at Chester, UK. Results from Betampona confirm the highly frugivorous and arboreal nature of V. v. variegata. Under all captive conditions, except the rooftop feed in the cage environment, the captive V. v. variegata spent significantly less time feeding than their wild conspecifics. Suspensory feeding postures are an important adaptation enabling wild V. v. variegata to harvest fruit in the small-branch setting. Similar frequencies of use of such postures to those observed at Betampona were most effectively encouraged among captive V. v. variegata in the cage environment by the rooftop food presentation method and on a naturalistic island exhibit by the suspended method of food presentation. Differences in feeding behavior between the wild and captive V. v.variegata can be explained in terms of structural differences between their environments. As naturalistic captive environments allow lemurs to experience the challenges associated with feeding in the wild, it is strongly recommended that zoos endeavor to provide them with such conditions. Zoo Biol 17:379–392, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Species Identification of Ten Common Farm Animals Based on Mitochondrial 12S rRNA Gene Polymorphisms

Bio-techniques such as genetic manipulation, marker-assisted selection, and identity test have largely facilitated the modern animal production practices. In the present study, we established a reliable and cost-effective molecular method of species identification for common farm animals. We first (re-)analyzed 179 mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene sequences of ten farm animal species to determine the intra-species and species-specific variations. The PCR-RFLP method was subsequently designed to identify these species by using endonucleases BshNI, ScaI, AluI, and BfaI. The poultry and livestock species were first discriminated by one double-digestion of both BshNI and ScaI, which generated different fragment patterns (325?bp and 115?bp for poultry vs. 364?bp and 76?bp for livestock). The ten species could be further discerned according to species-specific restriction pattern by subjecting to digestion of AluI and BfaI, respectively. Our approach would be more reliable by taking the intra-species variations into consideration and could be applied to species identity test, commercial fraud, and wildlife crime.     

Left-hand Preference for a Complex Manual Task in a Population of Wild Siamangs (<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Symphalangus syndactylus</Emphasis>)

Many hypotheses have been proposed linking the emergence of lateralized activities—such as handedness—in primates, with hemispheric specialization and the evolution of complex communication such as human language. Although data to test these ideas are rapidly accumulating for many primate taxa, some species are still largely unexplored, especially under natural conditions. I present the first data on a population of wild siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus), highly arboreal small apes. Preference for the left hand is shown both at the individual and population levels for a complex manual task: collecting and drinking water from tree holes. There was no difference in hand preference between males and females, and immature individuals showed more variable patterns than adults. These results are consistent with the postural origins theory, allow a new interpretation of the findings of comparable studies, and indicate a useful behavior for future investigations of laterality in wild primates.     

Safeguard subjects

In the available literature on ecobalances, relatively little attention has until now been devoted to the discussion of the ultimate objectives of ecocontrolling, i.e. to the determination of those elements of nature which deserve highest protection. The goal of this paper is to elaborate and to provide grounds for a target-system of ecocontrol-ling based upon existing concepts in the environmental ethics. The immediate connection between ethical considerations and the target-system of ecocontrolling arises from the fact that the ethical notion of ‘intrinsic value’ (applied on elements of nature), and the concept of ‘safeguard subject’ used in literature on ecocontrolling and ecobalances appear congruent. Principally, it would be desirable that the safeguard subjects consist only of natural elements with an intrinsic value — within the chosen approach of environmental ethics. However, in order to reach an optimal operationalization, it appears unavoidable to put elements of nature with an intrinsic value and those elements that do not possess such a value (but which operationalize elements with an intrinsic value) together in the list of the safeguard subjects. Relying on the theoretical and practical analysis, a list of safeguard subjects similar that from Gonsoli et al. is proposed. The ethical frame allows for a new insight, the idea that there is a hierarchy between the different safeguard subjects, and that a limited influence on a safeguard subject of lower rank docs not have to be considered an impairment of the corresponding safeguard subject.     

The Concept of Animal Welfare at the Interface between Producers and Scientists: The Example of Organic Pig Farming

In organic farming animal welfare is one important aspect included in the internationally agreed organic principles of health, ecology, fairness and care (IFOAM 2006), reflecting expectation of consumers and farmers. The definition of organic animal welfare includes—besides traditional terms of animal welfare—‘regeneration’ and ‘naturalness’. Organic animal welfare assessment needs to reflect this and use complex parameters, include natural behaviour and a systemic view. Furthermore, various parties with seemingly conflicting interests are involved, causing ethical dilemmas, such as the use of nose rings for outdoor sows (impaired animal welfare vs. destruction of humus). Solutions can only be found when foundational concepts are translated and applied to practical situations. On-farm animal welfare assessment and implementation of improvement strategies are increasingly relevant scientific areas. They combine on-farm welfare assessment, identification of key problem areas and connected risk factors. Constant communication between all parties is crucial for success. Animal health and welfare planning is one application of this approach, which was carried out on Austrian organic pig farms as well as organic dairy farms in seven European countries. The projects included welfare assessment, feedback and benchmarking as a tool for communication between farmers, advisors and scientists. Finally goals were set by the farmer and improvement strategies applicable to organic farming were implemented. This included prevention of disease by management strategies instead of routine treatment with pharmaceutical products. It appeared that next to problem structuring, multidisciplinary problem solving demands good communications skills to relate animal welfare science to value reflections.     

What Capabilities for the Animal?

In this essay, I defend a bi-constructivist approach to ethology—a constructivist ethology assuming that each animal adopts constructivist strategies. I put it in opposition to what I call a realist-Cartesian approach, which is currently the dominant approach to ethology and comparative psychology. The starting point of the bi-constructivist approach can be formulated as a shift from the classical Aristotelian question “What is an animal?” to the Spinozean question, which is much less classical but which seems to me to be much stronger: “What are the capacities of the animal?”. Is it possible to conceptualize an ethology which insists on interpretation and therefore on invention, innovation and creativity, rather than on causality, the monotony of behavioural routines, and/or genetic or environmental determination? Such an ethology would be based not on the fiction of an absent observer but on fully recognizing the necessity of an observer, who is effectively present in order to get an observation. A pluralistic ethology does not dissociate itself from the marginal epistemologies of practitioners like animal trainers, hunters, stockbreeders etc., or, moreover, non-western experts. An ethology of this kind is not clamped within the boundaries of purely academic epistemology, obsessed by demarcation lines between the human and the animal. My work on the bi-constructivist approach represents a contribution towards the elaboration of an authentically biosemiotic ethology, one which is significantly different from the mechanical ethology of today.     

云南省2014—2017年收容救护野生动物调查

通过对2014-2017年云南省被收容救护野生动物的物种数量、来源、频次等的调查和分析,结果发现:(1)云南省收容救护的野生动物超过93科269种,共计21 784只;其中,外来物种超过35种,以鸟类的种类和数量最多;(2)收容救护动物主要来源于执法单位移交,共20 485只,占94%;(3)非法动物贸易市场和渠道、人兽冲突、违规经营、民众缺乏对动物习性的了解是动物被收容救护的主要原因。管理部门需要加大监管力度,加强执法,严厉打击野生动物非法贸易,建立健全野生动物及制品市场准入机制,加强野生动物科普宣教工作,减少民众误抓误捉、随意放生外来物种等行为,进一步完善提高野生动物保护工作。     

Humans and Wild Animals in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Texts: Interactions and Metaphors

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relations between humans and wild animals in the lands of the Bible and ancient Near East and the way in which these cultures used various creatures and their characteristics as metaphors for dangerous enemies. It focuses on three particular periods in which the sources at our disposal document human–wild animal interactions. The first section discusses the emergence of civilization in Mesopotamia as reflected in various texts, discussing their portrait of the epoch in which human culture took shape and domesticated animals began to be clearly differentiated from wild ones. The second part looks at human–canine relations—wild dogs and their domesticated counterparts—briefly surveying how the former serve as metaphors for enemies beyond inhabited regions as evinced in the Egyptian El-Amarna archive. The third section analyzes the human–animal relations portrayed in the biblical texts, reviewing the theological principles they adopt in relation to the animal kingdom and the way in which wild animals became a metaphor for both wicked adversaries and striking physical attributes.     

Integrating Concern for Animals into Personal Values

Recent scholarship in human–animal relationships demonstrates that new theoretical insights emerge when these relationships are seriously considered. We suggest that the most prominent measures of values in the environmental decision-making research literature, the Schwartz approach, may not adequately capture key aspects of how individuals value animals. Our research used confirmatory factor analysis and ordinary least squares regression techniques on data collected from an Amazon Mechanical Turk online survey. It expands on the values commonly used in the environmental decision-making literature to consider whether there is a distinct value dimension focused on animals. Our suggestion that a “concern for animals” value orientation constitutes a motivation that is separate from the other values commonly used in research on environmental decision-making finds support in our data. Traditional scaling methods indicate that the items we created have high reliability when used to form an unweighted additive scale. The results of confirmatory factor analysis are consistent with the argument that this “concern for animals” value orientation is distinct from biospheric altruism, humanistic altruism, self-interest, traditionalism, openness to change, and hedonism. Finally, our regressions using values and demographic, social, and political characteristics as controls show that an animal-focused value orientation and biospheric altruism have different relationships with identification with the animal rights movement than with identification with the environmental movement.     

Attitudes Toward Animals Among Norwegian Adolescents

ABSTRACT

Attitudes towards a wide range of animals were measured among a sample of 562 children and adolescents, aged between 9 and 15 years, from one urban and two rural areas in Southern Norway. The respondents completed a questionnaire based on Kellert's (1996) attitude typology toward animals. The results showed that the humanistic attitude type ranked first, followed by the moralistic, ecologistic, naturalistic, negativistic, dominionistic, and utilitarian attitude types. Gender differences appeared on the moralistic and negativistic (girls highest), and the naturalistic, dominionistic, and utilitarian (boys highest) sub-scales. Scores on the ecologistic, naturalistic, and dominionistic sub-scales decreased with increasing age. Urban respondents had higher moralistic, and rural respondents had higher dominionistic sub-scale scores. Respondents who owned a pet had higher humanistic, moralistic, and lower utilitarian sub-scale scores than had non-owners.     

Behavioral Adaptation of Pan troglodytes troglodytes

As wild primate populations decline, numbers of orphaned primates, sanctuaries, and attempts to release primates back to the natural environment increase. Release projects frequently are poorly documented despite IUCN guidelines recommending post-release monitoring and systematic data collection as central to the process. Since 1996, Habitat Ecologique et Liberté des Primates (HELP) has been releasing wild-born orphaned chimpanzees into natural habitat in the Conkouati-Douli National Park, Republic of Congo. HELP developed a post-release monitoring system as an integral component. We present activity budgets and diet of released chimpanzees, and compared them to those of wild chimpanzee, as primary indicators of successful release. Feeding, moving, and resting dominated activity budgets, reflecting the overall patterns in wild populations. Diet was diverse and dominated by fruit, and the released chimpanzees showed specialization on a smaller number of species, as in many wild communities. The high survival rates of the chimpanzees and overall success of the release program are attributed to careful planning and post-release support facilitated via the monitoring process. Systematic post-release data collection monitoring has confirmed that wild-born chimpanzees can adjust behaviorally and nutritionally to the wild. Survival statistics of the reintroduced chimpanzees—confirmed 56%, possible 88%— reflect the behavioral adaptability.2nd revision March 11, 2005An erratum to this article can be found at