Effects of Enclosure and Environmental Enrichment on the Behaviour of Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta)
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Ethical Statement
2.2. Subjects and Housing Conditions
2.3. Enrichment Items
2.4. Procedure
2.5. Observations
2.6. Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Overall Activity Budget
3.2. Effect of Enrichment and Enclosure
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Category | Behaviour | Description |
---|---|---|
Abnormal | Stereotypic walking | Walking the same route repeatedly. |
Affiliation | Grooming | Licking or combing (using teeth) another’s fur, sometimes using hands to part the fur. |
Mutual grooming | Two individuals simultaneously groom each other. | |
Playing | Could include non-aggressive chasing, jumping, rolling around. | |
Sexual behaviour | Mounting, mating, etc. | |
Agonistic | Chasing | Moving quickly towards and following another individual, causing it to flee. |
Fighting | Any succession of hitting, biting and/or grabbing, where two or more individuals each display at least one of the behaviours. | |
Enrichment | Manipulating enrichment item | Any form of behaviour targeted towards the enrichment items. This also includes structural enrichment items. |
Exploration | Foraging | Actively looking for food using hands and mouth, by exploring surface or vegetation. |
Gnawing | Chewing on an item that is not food and is not eaten. | |
Licking | Moving tongue up and down an item that is not their or another’s body part. | |
Sniffing | Placing the nose close to or on an object and smelling it. | |
Locomotion | Climbing | Moving up or down from a vertical surface, using its four limbs. |
Hanging | Hanging from an item in the environment, not touching a horizontal surface for support. | |
Jumping | Moving from the ground or an elevated surface to the next, during which all four limbs are in the air at one point. | |
Running | Moving quickly from one area to another by using four limbs. | |
Standing on four legs | Using both feet and hands for support. Not any other body part is touching the ground/supporting surface (except for the tail). | |
Standing upright | Standing on feet only, with the body upright. | |
Walking | Moving from one area to another by using four limbs. | |
Resting | Resting | Sitting/laying down with eyes open or closed. |
Sitting | Placed on the base of the tail. | |
Species-specific | Scent marking | Marking an item of the environment with a scent gland. Lifting tail and rubbing genital area/scent glands against an object. |
Sunbathing | Sitting upright in an area with sunlight, with the belly-side directed towards the sun and arms open. | |
Tail rubbing | Rubbing tail with the glands on forearms. | |
Self-directed | Self-scratching | Quickly moving fingernails or toenails up and down on one of its body parts. |
Self-grooming | Licking or combing (using teeth) own fur, sometimes using hands to part the fur. | |
Other | Behaviours not listed above. |
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Laméris, D.W.; Verspeek, J.; Depoortere, A.; Plessers, L.; Salas, M. Effects of Enclosure and Environmental Enrichment on the Behaviour of Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta). J. Zool. Bot. Gard. 2021, 2, 164-173. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg2020012
Laméris DW, Verspeek J, Depoortere A, Plessers L, Salas M. Effects of Enclosure and Environmental Enrichment on the Behaviour of Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta). Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens. 2021; 2(2):164-173. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg2020012
Chicago/Turabian StyleLaméris, Daan W., Jonas Verspeek, Arno Depoortere, Lise Plessers, and Marina Salas. 2021. "Effects of Enclosure and Environmental Enrichment on the Behaviour of Ring-Tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta)" Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens 2, no. 2: 164-173. https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg2020012