Zoo Animals: How Actual Zoological Institutions Assess, Ensure, and Promote Their Animals’ Welfare?
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Zoo Animals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 7686
Special Issue Editor
Interests: ethology; cognition; phenomenology; animal welfare; human-animal relations; marine mammals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Zoological institutions communicate on their efforts to ensure a high quality of life for the animals under their care. They also communicate on their actions to assess, maintain, and promote animal welfare and their involvement in conservation projects. Assessing animal welfare requires studying the individuals’ physiology, behaviors, and cognitions. Many institutions set up their own evaluation grids, implement enrichment programs, and ask their animal professionals to gain special training on animal behavior and welfare.
Many scientific projects on zoo animal behaviors, cognition, emotions, and welfare are conducted in zoological parks, along with scientific inquiries on the relationship between the caregivers and the animals they work with and on the interactions between visitors and animals. This Special Issue aims to give an update on what is happening today in modern zoos in terms of animal studies, animal welfare, human–animal relationships and interactions, and conservation programs.
We invite original research papers and reviews or studies focused on but not limited to: the behavioral, physiological, and cognitive aspects of animals under human care, the enrichment methods contributing to the welfare of these animals, novel methods used to improve the life in zoos, and the role of zoos in conservation.
Dr. Fabienne Delfour
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
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Keywords
- zoo
- behavior
- enrichment
- captivity
- stressors
- welfare of animals in captivity
- restricted mobility
- effects of stressors on animal behaviour
- non-living sources of stress, captivity-specific stressors
- socialisation
- social interaction
Planned Papers
The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.
Title: The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland's approach to assessing and promoting animal welfare in collaboration with Universities
Authors: Kristine M Gandia; Jo Elliott; Simon Girling; Sharon E Kessler; Hannah M Buchanan-Smith
Affiliation: Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland
Abstract: Good zoos have four aims – to conserve species, educate the public, engage in research, and provide recreation – all of which can only be achieved when underpinned by high animal welfare standards. In this paper, we share the approach that The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park take to animal welfare. We highlight the role that animal welfare research, in collaboration with universities, has had in enabling the zoo to take an evidence-based approach to welfare and to put findings into practice. We share the collaborative process through which we developed and piloted the current animal welfare assessment tools, how they were validated, and tested for reliability as part of a long-term collaboration between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the University of Stirling: (1) the RZSS Welfare Assessment Tool, a 50-question animal welfare assessment adapted from the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) Toolkit and (2) the Stirling Toolkit, a package of evidence-based resources for behavioural data collection. Our aim is to facilitate standardised, evidence-based approaches to assessing animal welfare which, when finalised, can be used collaboratively across zoos.
Title: Detailed acoustic signals of franciscanas (Pontoporia blainvillei) comparison of rehabilitated and wild dolphins
Authors: Gisela Vanina Giardino; Mel Cosentino; Agustina Camila Macchi; Juan Pablo Loureiro; Sergio Rodriguez Heredia; Karina Cecilia Alvarez; Sergio Gabriel Moron; Diego Horacio Rodriguez
Affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), FCEyN, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-CONICET, Mar del Plata, 7600, Argentina.
Abstract: The franciscana dolphin is a small, vulnerable species often caught in artisanal gillnets. This study aims to provide a comprehensive assessment of their acoustic capabilities by using advanced equipment to collect a large dataset of wideband, continuous recordings. We examined the detailed acoustic signals of franciscana dolphins, comparing those from rehabilitated dolphins in captivity with wild dolphins near fishing nets. Significant differences in acoustic characteristics were found between neonates and older dolphin, with juvenile and wild dolphins showing similar features. Repetition patterns in click production were identified, highlighting the importance of understanding the context of these sounds in feeding and communication. The study emphasizes the need for detecting neonates for species protection and suggests the potential for developing acoustic classifiers specific to different age groups. Our findings offer valuable insights for conservation efforts and the development of protection strategies for franciscana dolphins. Additionally, the insights gained can be applied to improve the welfare of dolphins in zoological institutions by enhancing monitoring and care practices.