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Revitalizing Conservation And Management Of The American Crocodile (Crocodylus Acutus) In The Dominican Republic, Robert Greco
Revitalizing Conservation And Management Of The American Crocodile (Crocodylus Acutus) In The Dominican Republic, Robert Greco
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Crocodilian populations declined globally during the 20th century because of overhunting and habitat loss. Some crocodilian populations have recovered recently through legal protections and habitat restoration, but the status of many crocodilian populations are still unknown because of a lack of recent data. The American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) population in the Dominican Republic (DR) is one of these data-deficient populations, with country-wide surveys not carried out since the 1980s. From May through July 2021 we surveyed areas within DR where C. acutus is still likely residing. Our surveys yielded no crocodile sightings in Monte Cristi, suggesting that …
The Effect Of Visitor Density And Interaction On The Behavior Of Four Ray Species (Hypanus Sabina, Hypanus Say, Pseudobatos Lentiginosus, And Rhinoptera Bonasus) Housed In An Aquatic Touch Pool, Aimee Marie Little
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Human-Animal Interactions (HAI) in zoological institutions are thought to be important in helping visitors to establish a connection with animals and thus making them more likely to contribute to conservation efforts. However, animals can respond to visitor interaction in both negative and positive ways. The growing focus on animal welfare in zoological institutions emphasizes the need for assessing different environmental inputs, including visitor interaction, and how these inputs influence behavioral outputs associated with welfare. A touch pool exhibit presents a novel interactive experience that allows visitors to directly interact with various aquatic species, including elasmobranchs, whose conservation has important implications …
Implementing Welfare Science: Case Studies In Evidence-Based Zoo Management, Marisa Suzanne Spain
Implementing Welfare Science: Case Studies In Evidence-Based Zoo Management, Marisa Suzanne Spain
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Animal welfare science is a field that focuses on how we can improve the lives and well-being of animals in human care. Modern welfare science has moved away from simply preventing suffering and on to promoting positive welfare states, a concept that has been coined animal “wellness”. A process called evidence-based zoo management has been implemented in many zoos as a way to promote and ensure wellness. This is the idea that husbandry and housing standards should be evaluated and tested for their efficacy using data rather than relying on traditional best practices. In this manuscript we discuss an informal …
Behavioral Assessment Of Social Structure And Guest Provisioning Program Participation Of Zoo-Housed Giraffes (Giraffa Camelopardalis) Under Varying Spatial Availability., Fatima Ramis
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Close encounters with animals are considered integral for visitors and are trademark components of traditional educational engagement in zoological parks. As capacity for up-close encounters continue to increase with a simultaneous development in the field of animal welfare science, behavioral assessments on the role of common close encounters is timely. Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) visitor feeding programs are established in approximately 57% of institutions accredited by Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Due to successful breeding and capacity building for zoological giraffe populations, this percentage will likely continue to increase. There is a great deal of variation in the environmental …
Behavioral And Physiological Assessment Of Zoo-Housed Heterosexual Gorilla (Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla) Troops With Multiple Silverbacks, Kaylin S. Tennant
Behavioral And Physiological Assessment Of Zoo-Housed Heterosexual Gorilla (Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla) Troops With Multiple Silverbacks, Kaylin S. Tennant
UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
Based on recognized life history traits and ecology, zoos strive to house their gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in mixed-sex groups with one mature male or silverback, multiple females, and their offspring. However, successful captive breeding programs and a nearly 50:50 birth sex ratio has created the need to house surplus males in solitary conditions or all-male groups. It is commonly believed that male western gorillas will not tolerate one another in the presence of females; however, multi-male, mixed-sex groups have been observed in the wild. For this reason, some zoos have begun experimenting with this scenario. At the …