Behavioural persistence in captive bears and its implication for reintroduction success

Simple item page
dc.contributor.affiliationDepartment of Animal Biosciences
dc.contributor.authorMason, G.J.
dc.contributor.authorVickery, S.S.
dc.date.accessioned2013-06-26T19:46:00Z
dc.date.available2013-06-26T19:46:00Z
dc.date.issued2003
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Animal Biosciencesen
dc.description.abstractWe investigated the relationship between stereotypic behavior and abnormal behavioral persistence,a trait that could have potentially negative implications for reintroduction efforts, for 18 Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) and 11 Malayan sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) individually housed in a government confiscation facility in Thailand. Reintroduction or augmentation programs using captive-reared animals are typically less successful than those involving wild-reared con-specifics. One reason for this may lie in deficiencies in the behavior of captive animals. Attributes of stereotypy performance were quantified by observing bears from blinds. Mean stereotypy frequencies ranged between 0 and 51% (mean = 18%, SE = ±3), of all observations, and stereotypy frequency increased with age. To assess behavioral persistence, 12 bears were trained in a spatial discrimination task; once a performance criterion had been met, further responses were unrewarded and the ability to cease responding was assessed. The number of trials for which bears continued responding without reward was positively related to stereotypy frequency. This finding suggests that captivity can exert subtle but potentially detrimental influences on behavioral control that could possibly be manifest even in non-stereotypic animals. In the wild, where behavior must be adaptive and flexible to meet fluctuating conditions, such behavioral deficiencies could help account for reduced survivorship of reintroduced subjects.en_US
dc.identifier.citationS. S. Vickery & G. J. Mason (2003). Behavioural persistence in captive bears and its implication for reintroduction success. Ursus 14: 35 – 43.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10214/7258
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUrsusen_US
dc.rights.licenseAll items in the Atrium are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
dc.subjectAsiatic black bearen_US
dc.subjectbehavioral persistenceen_US
dc.subjectcaptive-breden_US
dc.subjectHelarctos malayanusen_US
dc.subjectMalayan sun bearen_US
dc.subjectreintroductionsen_US
dc.subjecttereotypyen_US
dc.subjectUrsus thibetanusen_US
dc.titleBehavioural persistence in captive bears and its implication for reintroduction successen_US
dc.typeArticleen
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Vickery_Mason_14_1.pdf
Size:
367.51 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Behavioral persistence in captive bears: implications for reintroduction
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.69 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Research content