Foraging enrichment alleviates oral repetitive behaviors in captive red-tailed black cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus banksii) |
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Authors: | Melissa L. Fangmeier Alicia L. Burns Vicky A. Melfi Jessica Meade |
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Affiliation: | 1. Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;2. Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Hartpury College, Gloucester, United Kingdom;3. Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
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Abstract: | The relationship between inadequate foraging opportunities and the expression of oral repetitive behaviors has been well documented in many production animal species. However, this relationship has been less-well examined in zoo-housed animals, particularly avian species. The expression of oral repetitive behavior may embody a frustrated foraging response, and may therefore be alleviated with the provision of foraging enrichment. In this study, we examined the effect of different foraging-based enrichment items on a group of captive red-tailed black cockatoos who were previously observed performing oral repetitive behavior. A group of six cockatoos were presented with five foraging enrichment conditions (no enrichment (control), sliced cucumber, fresh grass, baffle cages, and millet discs). Baseline activity budgets were established over a 10-day preintervention period and interventions were then presented systematically over a 25-day experimental period. This study demonstrated that the provision of foraging interventions effectively increased the median percentage of time spent foraging compared to control conditions (range, 5.0–31.7% across interventions vs. 5.0% for control), with two of the interventions; grass and millet discs, significantly decreasing the expression of oral repetitive behaviors (control = 16.6 vs. 8.3% for both grass and millet discs). Finally, a rapid-scoring method utilized by zookeepers during the study proved to be a useful proxy for the amount of time the cockatoos spent interacting with the foraging interventions and overall time spent foraging. |
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Keywords: | captive environment environmental enrichment oral repetitive behavior parrot stereotypic behavior |
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