Behavioral responses of three armadillo species (Mammalia: Xenarthra) to an environmental enrichment program in Villavicencio, Colombia

Enrichment is a powerful tool to improve the welfare of animals under human care. Stress‐related health and behavioral problems, as well as reproductive failure, are frequent in armadillos (Xenarthra, Cingulata, Dasypodidae) under human care, which hinders the development of successful ex situ conse...

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Published in:Zoo biology Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 304 - 312
Main Authors: Cortés Duarte, Alexandra, Trujillo, Fernando, Superina, Mariella
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2016
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:
Animal Husbandry - standards
Animal welfare
Animals
Animals, Zoo
Armadillos - physiology
Armadillos - psychology
behavior
behavior problems
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Cabassous
cardboard
Colombia
conservation programs
Dasypodidae
Dasypus
Dasypus novemcinctus
Enrichment
Environment
environmental enrichment
ex situ conservation
foraging
Foraging behavior
humans
Isoptera
Mammalia
Mounds
stereotypies
termite mounds
welfare
Xenarthra
zoos
Colombia
behavior
welfare
ex situ conservation
stereotypies
ISSN:0733-3188, 1098-2361, 1098-2361
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Enrichment is a powerful tool to improve the welfare of animals under human care. Stress‐related health and behavioral problems, as well as reproductive failure, are frequent in armadillos (Xenarthra, Cingulata, Dasypodidae) under human care, which hinders the development of successful ex situ conservation programs. Nevertheless, scientific studies on the effect of enrichment programs on armadillos are virtually non‐existent. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of an enrichment program on the behavior of armadillos under human care. The behavior of 12 individuals of three species (Dasypus novemcinctus, D. sabanicola, and Cabassous unicinctus) maintained at Finca El Turpial, Villavicencio, Colombia, was recorded using scan sampling during three daily time blocks of 2 hr each before (4 weeks) and after (4 weeks) implementing an enrichment program. Enrichment did not stimulate the armadillos to change or extend their activity period. In general, activity levels were low during the entire study, and virtually no activity was recorded in the morning in any species, neither without nor with enrichment. The latter did, however, improve welfare by reducing abnormal and increasing natural foraging behaviors. All species were attracted by artificial termite mounds. Dasypus spp. showed special interest in cardboard boxes with food, while Cabassous was mainly attracted to hollow plastic balls filled with food. Our results suggest that separate enrichment programs need to be developed for different armadillo species, and that they should be applied during the time of day at which they are most active. Zoo Biol. 35:304–312, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Bibliography:Oleoducto de los Llanos Orientales
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ArticleID:ZOO21305
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
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ISSN:0733-3188
1098-2361
1098-2361
DOI:10.1002/zoo.21305