Presenter(s): Nora Sawyer − Anthropology
Faculty Mentor(s): Frances White, Colin Brand
Poster 129
Research Area: Social Science
Captive primates can interact with or be affected by either caretakers or visitors. These interactions may have a positive, neutral, or negative effect on individual animals. Most research on this topic has focused on the interaction between animals and visitors, with many studies finding an overall negative impact of zoo visitors on individual welfare. However, a few studies have also demonstrated no effect or even positive effects of visitors and visitor interactions. This research project uses continuous focal animal sampling to measure the effects of keeper and visitor presence on four chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and four mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) at the Oregon Zoo. Behaviors that are typically considered to be indicative of stress or negative welfare, including pacing, rocking, and hair plucking will be recorded. Crowd size and interactions with visitors will be classified as positive, negative, or neutral. I predict that larger crowd sizes will be associated with high frequencies of negative welfare indicators. Additionally, keeper presence and interactions will reduce the occurrence of these indicators.