In the zoo or in the wild - primate care is vital
The best housing and enrichment programs for captive primates, and optimum conditions for releasing orphaned orangutans back into the jungle were two major topics of last month’s 25th annual conference of the Australasian Primate Society.
The conference was held in Queensland for the first time over the March 9-11 weekend at the University of Queensland’s Gatton campus, thanks to energetic efforts by ex- veterinary nurse and PhD student Julia Hoy, from UQ’s School of Animal Studies. Participants came from not only Australia and New Zealand but also from Germany and Finland.
Renowned international zoo designer, Jon Coe, gave the keynote talk as a public lecture, on the topic: ‘Why not let the monkeys manage the monkey house? ’ Coe has spent the last 40 years designing animal housing in more than 150 sanctuaries, national parks, botanical gardens and animal enclosures in various parts of the world, including Ghana and the US.
He told attendees he believed the next frontier in primate facilities was to give animals more choice, independence and creativity through individualised care.
Microchipped animals would be able to access certain areas of an enclosure such as sleeping perches or trigger personalised services such as fans or heaters. “The organism with the most choices has the most freedom,” he said.
“I also believe this will lead to more confident, self-assured and motivated animals, which will not only reduce stress and improve animal well-being, but will create more active, interesting and informative displays.
“Once you give animals choices then they will end up doing things with that equipment that you never dreamed they could.”
He saw this creativity and initiative first hand in an American zoo where they installed an infra-red shower that elephants could turn on and off with their trunks. In one night the elephants triggered the shower 45 times. Interestingly, it was not to get themselves clean, but to soak their hay in so it was easier to digest.
International zoo designer, Jon Coe, presenting his public lecture, ‘Why not let the monkeys manage the monkey house? ‘
Julia Hoy has also been working on how microchipping animals in zoos can improve their life by automating individual care routines. She outlined the work she and other researchers are doing in developing an enrichment and husbandry system that can dispense food, toys and medicine depending on the needs of individually microchipped animals.
Hoy said the system consisted of the microchips linked with scanners and other automated equipment that zoo keepers could set to release items at random times. This unpredictability would give the animals something to observe and help enrich their caged life.
“The automated system involves microchipping animals so when they come to a scanner it will recognise each individual animal and then release food, sounds, smells, medications, toys or open a door controlling access to various parts of the enclosure,” she said.
“This has great potential for improving welfare which in turn increases breeding rates and possibilities for reintroduction to the wild.”
An emerging field in caring for captive primates is in cognitive enrichment, where the mental capacities of the non-human primate are challenged in a fashion that goes beyond basic food-related activities and rewards. Jo Davis, a psychology PhD student at the University of South Australia is interested in comparative psychology, the investigation of the differences and similarities in the cognitive capacities of animals and non-human animals. She addressed the conference on her PhD project, looking at perceived control and choice in great apes, from a theoretical and applied perspective.
“Great apes in particular have been shown to possess the cognitive capacity around that of a three year old child, and thus require psychological stimulation to a particularly high degree,” she said. Davis has worked in previous projects on dog cognition, and is currently working on projects with dingo cognition and domestic dogs (dog attacks and the community).
A fascinating view from the other side of the cage was outlined by Dr Carla Litchfield, lecturer in psychology at the University of South Australia. In a paper entitled, ‘My month in the human zoo: implications for captive primate welfare’, Lichfield described the four weeks in January in which she and other members of four groups of volunteers spent a week each in an unused Adelaide Zoo primate exhibit during zoo opening hours.
“I was locked into the Human Zoo for the entire month, which provided me with a unique opportunity to spend time in an enclosure and experience things from the animals’ point of view,” Litchfield said. Among her observations, she noted the lack of shade and of meaningful things to do in the cage, and also how much spectators ate in front of the ‘animals’, which elicited a food begging response.
“I will use this information to inform future enrichment projects and enclosure designs, in order to further enhance psychological well-being of captive primates,” she said.
Orangutan rehabilitation researcher, UQ bachelor of Applied Science student, Kris Descovich presented data from her recent study trip to Indonesia where she observed rehabilitation centres teaching orphaned orangutans the skills they need to survive when returned to the wild. (See story: Life lessons for orangutan orphans in next month’s issue.)
The conference participants were taken on a tour of the newly completed primate area of the Australia Zoo, which is not yet open to the public.