Using activity budgets and space use preferences to define enclosure appropriateness for African painted dogs, Lycaon pictus (Temminck 1820)

Abstract

As natural habitat is lost, the need for keeping and breeding animals in zoological gardens is increasing. For animal welfare reasons and to promote health and effective breeding having as close to natural enclosures has become essential on zoological gardens. A clear understanding of how an animal uses its space and activity budgets may be required to understand their biological requirements more fully in zoological environments. The findings in these behaviour observations will aid the design of exhibits and, in turn, potentially maximize the animals’ welfare. The welfare of animals in human care often has been examined in relation to the amount of space provided. However, more recently, welfare has been assessed by the quantity and the quality of the space being given. In this study, I examined two different packs of African painted dogs (Lycaon pictus) in two separate outside, naturalistic enclosures at the San Diego Zoo (SDZ) and Bronx Zoo (BZ). I use electivity indices as a tool to determine under and over-utilized exhibit areas. This type of index provides a novel way of measuring spatial preferences. Areas that are used in greater proportion than their availability in the environment are considered over-utilized. Conversely, areas that are proportionately under-utilized are avoided. In this study, I also looked at “rest” and “locomotion” behaviours to determine if the African painted dogs in these zoos show the crepuscular activity of their wild counterparts. I also looked at “stereotypic” behaviours and whether they were more significant at specific times of day. Because of the crepuscular activity, complex social structure, and nomadic nature of painted dogs; managers of zoological facilities have a challenge ensuring a suitable exhibit for these animals. An activity budget formula was used for observations during each designated time frame (morning, noon, evening, and dusk) and the average behaviour during the entire day. This was found also to be highly influenced by the presence of humans. In this instance, the SDZ dogs preferred the area near the keeper area. The times that they were more active in the area, keepers were present, and therefore some of the dog’s behaviour could be attributed to the anticipation of movement or food. The lack of stereotypic behaviour in the BZ dogs was not expected, while the SDZ dogs may have only had higher instances of stereotypies because of the trauma within the pack. There is a risk of negatively influencing ‘natural’ behaviours of African painted dogs in zoological facilities. This study was completed to influence how zoological managers create ‘naturalistic’ exhibits for several different wide-ranging, nomadic, and charismatic species of carnivores. This research has influenced how I currently care for the Chinese dholes (Cuon alpinus) at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.