Elephants particularly enjoy the presence of zoo visitors, a new study in the UK suggests.
Animal behaviour experts at Harper Adams University and Nottingham Trent University investigated more than 100 previous research papers exploring the various ways in which visitors impacted behaviour in more than 250 species in zoos.
They published their findings in the journal Animals.
The team found significant results regarding elephants, with social activity among the animals increasing and repetitive behaviours—often indicating boredom in animals—decreasing during public feedings.
Repetitive behaviours also decreased in the presence of larger numbers of visitors, and in the period after public feedings there was increased foraging by elephants and a decrease in their levels of inactivity.
The researchers also found positive effects in cockatoos, whose social behaviour was seen to increase after interacting with visitors, and in long-billed corellas,
In all the studies, the impact of visitors—although at times considered either positive or negative—was predominantly neutral.
Other species that displayed a positive response to visitors included penguins, jaguars, grizzly bears, polar bears, cheetahs, servals, banteng cattle and black-tailed prairie dogs.
Animal groups that displayed a negative response to visitors included flightless birds, odd and even-toed ungulates, marsupials, ostriches, tuatara and hedgehogs.
“Some animal species have been born and raised in zoos and so have likely become used to the presence of humans,” Dr Samantha Ward said.
“Zoo visitors are often aspects of a zoo animal’s environment that animals cannot control and as such can be stressful, although some species appear to show good adaptability for the changing conditions of visitors.
“There can be a lot of variation in stimuli from visitors in terms of their behaviour, the noise they make and the way they interact with the animals. We have identified that species show varied responses to people in zoos—some cope well, others not so well.”
Dr Ellen Williams added: “In elephants and birds it was encouraging to see a reduction in those repetitive behaviours towards something more positive in the presence of people, although the absence of change in the majority of species was also really good, because it suggests enclosure design is changing to better support animals in responding to visitors.”
