Der Zoologische Garten最新文献

The welfare of animals under human care has become a major concern in many parts of the world over the last several decades. The public's concern for the welfare of animals in zoos and aquariums has perhaps evolved more recently than its concern for laboratory and farm animals. However, professionals working in zoos and aquariums have been concerned with the welfare of animals for a long time, as efforts to develop and improve husbandry for an astonishing array of animal species has been undertaken. Using interviews and gathering of information from the literature and zoological community, we trace the evolution of the zoological profession's focus on animal welfare in the United States and draw comparisons to how a welfare focus developed in U.S. laboratories and on farms. We also discuss the zoological profession's elaboration of and role in the field of wildlife welfare science. We assert that the welfare focus in U.S. zoos and aquaria has largely been driven internally and is characterized by unique challenges and solutions. Zoos and aquaria are also leading the science of captive wildlife welfare with relatively little contribution from universities, governments, or non-government organizations.

This paper provides some information on the life history and development data of the female sand tiger shark from its birth in Japan in 2001 to its removal from the Berlin Zoo Aquarium to the Ozeaneum in Stralsund in 2012. Within a period of ten and a half years, the length of the shark doubled from 1 to 2 meters and its weight increased from 12 to 200 kilograms.

Giraffes are browsing ruminants, for which in zoological gardens, an appropriate food range is important to show natural behavior patterns. In a breeding group of ten Rothschild giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) in the ZOOM Erlebniswelt Gelsenkirchen, Germany, we examined the influence of two different feeds on the activity budgets, behavior and mean fecal particle size. Giraffes, which received Alfalfa hay ad libitum spent 29%, receiving, however, fresh foliage they spent 55% of their daily activity with feeding. But in the first case, giraffes were looking for alternative food sources for a considerable time (28%) feeding on debarked branches in their enclosure. The values for other activities (rumination, observing, stereotypes) were largely similar. The mean particle sizes in the feces were 1.47 mm during Alfalfa feeding and 0.40 mm during leaf feeding. Our observations show again that feeding of giraffes in the zoo will have a significant influence on the daily activity and the average fecal particle size and, thus, on the use of nutrients. Further, they show that branches and twigs in their enclosure may be used as “feeding enrichment” to generate natural behaviour. Through the evasiveness shown, in the search for alternative sources of food, we conclude that in the zoo should be used as a so-called feeding enrichment for giraffes to generate a natural feeding stimulus.

Is the Zoo of Zurich an institution that imparts knowledge or educational benefit? The primary objective of the referenced master thesis was to analyse and seek to quantify certain parameters of this premise. In order to attain this objective, and in collaboration with Zoo Zurich, a broadly based evaluation via survey and analysis of the knowledge acquired and retained by visitors to the zoo was conducted. Applying 16 scientifically designed questionnaires, each developed for a specific sub-area (or animal enclosure) of Zoo Zurich, the majority of the zoo's available educational offerings could be included in the survey. The questions developed for the survey were based on six knowledge domains, all considered relevant and categorised in terms of change in attitude and behaviour by visitors to the zoo. The interviews carried out, encompassed 1’273 pre or ‘entrance’ and 1’234 post or ‘exit’ interviews, for a total sample size of 2’507 interviews.

In a first step, the data analysis focused on the knowledge imparted during a single visit to the zoo. Via hypothesis testing, it was possible to prove with a 99% level of significance, that a single visit to Zoo Zurich can provide a significantly positive educational effect.

Statements regarding the level of retention of such knowledge transfer were not yet possible with these insights gained. For this reason in a second step, a multiple regression (31 significant variables, R² = 0.22) was calculated, for which the results obtained from the interviewees constituted the dependent variable. The conclusion attained was again positive: A single visit to the zoo has a significantly positive educational effect, and which accounted for approx. 5 percentage points within the questionnaires. In addition it was now possible to establish, that an increasing number of visits to Zoo Zurich translate into materially higher results (99% significance). Thus for example, the average knowledge or educational advantage attributable to frequent visitors (three or more visits per year) is 3.5 percentage points higher than other visitor groups. Consequently, the knowledge or educational effect gained at Zoo Zurich rather than merely temporary, instead indicates a certain level of sustainability or permanence of retention. This was also shown by the fact that the reduction or loss of knowledge due to lack of knowledge brush-up through a renewed visit to the zoo, did not occur rapidly but rather over several years.

Next to these findings, particularly in focus also was the notable impact of children on the level of knowledge transfer by the Zoo Zurich. Thus, as became visible from the multiple regression, visitor groups with toddlers achieved significantly lower results in knowledge transfer or educational benefit versus those groups without children or visitors with adolescent children. As a result, the current potential for knowledge transfer at Zoo Zurich is, to a considera