Sound at the zoo: Using animal monitoring, sound measurement, and noise reduction in zoo animal management.

A clear need for evidence-based animal management in zoos and aquariums has been expressed by industry leaders. Here, we show how individual animal welfare monitoring can be combined with measurement of environmental conditions to inform science-based animal management decisions. Over the last several years, Disney's Animal Kingdom® has been undergoing significant construction and exhibit renovation, warranting institution-wide animal welfare monitoring. Animal care and science staff developed a model that tracked animal keepers' daily assessments of an animal's physical health, behavior, and responses to husbandry activity; these data were matched to different external stimuli and environmental conditions, including sound levels. A case study of a female giant anteater and her environment is presented to illustrate how this process worked. Associated with this case, several sound-reducing barriers were tested for efficacy in mitigating sound. Integrating daily animal welfare assessment with environmental monitoring can lead to a better understanding of animals and their sensory environment and positively impact animal welfare.

Effects of guest feeding programs on captive giraffe behavior.

Zoological institutions develop human-animal interaction opportunities for visitors to advance missions of conservation, education, and recreation; however, the animal welfare implications largely have yet to be evaluated. This behavioral study was the first to quantify impacts of guest feeding programs on captive giraffe behavior and welfare, by documenting giraffe time budgets that included both normal and stereotypic behaviors. Thirty giraffes from nine zoos (six zoos with varying guest feeding programs and three without) were observed using both instantaneous scan sampling and continuous behavioral sampling techniques. All data were collected during summer 2012 and analyzed using linear mixed models. The degree of individual giraffe participation in guest feeding programs was positively associated with increased time spent idle and marginally associated with reduced time spent ruminating. Time spent participating in guest feeding programs had no effect on performance of stereotypic behaviors. When time spent eating routine diets was combined with time spent participating in guest feeding programs, individuals that spent more time engaged in total feeding behaviors tended to perform less oral stereotypic behavior such as object-licking and tongue-rolling. By extending foraging time and complexity, guest feeding programs have the potential to act as environmental enrichment and alleviate unfulfilled foraging motivations that may underlie oral stereotypic behaviors observed in many captive giraffes. However, management strategies may need to be adjusted to mitigate idleness and other program consequences. Further studies, especially pre-and-post-program implementation comparisons, are needed to better understand the influence of human-animal interactions on zoo animal behavior and welfare.

Development of a low-density-solvent dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry method for the quantitation of tetrabromobisphenol-A from dust.

The development of an alternative dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction protocol utilizing a low-density extraction solvent, toluene, is described here for the extraction of the brominated flame retardant, tetrabromobisphenol-A, from dust prior to selected ion monitoring analysis by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. Method parameters of dispersive solvent type and extraction solvent type were optimized. Excellent recovery (88.9%; n = 5 spike replicates) with good precision was achieved in a spike and recovery study. This developed method was utilized to survey tetrabromobisphenol-A concentrations in dust sampled from a local electronics recycling facility from the ambient environment and 20 computer towers undergoing recycling. Concentrations of tetrabromobisphenol-A from dust in computer towers ranged from not detected (n = 2) up to 64 µg/g with a mean value of 11 µg/g and median of 4.1 µg/g tetrabromobisphenol-A. A composite sample of dust collected from the ambient indoor environment was analyzed with a resulting concentration of 36 µg/g. This is the first application of this novel green method for pre-concentrating flame retardants from dust and the first report of tetrabromobisphenol-A concentrations at a U.S.-based electronics recycling facility.