Personality matters: exploring the relationship between personality and stress physiology in captive African lions.

BACKGROUND: Considering animals as individuals and not as species is becoming increasingly essential to animal welfare management in captive settings. Recent studies on big cat personalities and coping strategies suggest personality can help big cats cope in their surroundings. Yet a large portion of the published literature focuses on understanding either the personality or stress physiology of big cats. Our research shows how integrating an improved understanding of the personality of big cats with stress physiology may enhance welfare, especially for endangered species like African lions. By using a wild cat personality checklist, this study compared the key personality dimensions of 22 African lions with its faecal glucocorticoids and assessed factors influencing their personality and stress physiology. RESULTS: We found two reliable personality dimensions for African lions (dominance and agreeableness) and identified key factors (sex, age and location) that may influence their personality. Further, on testing if these factors influenced the stress physiology through variations in glucocorticoid levels, there was no significant difference. However, there was a strong negative association between agreeableness and glucocorticoid levels. These results suggest that the behavioural traits loading positively and higher for agreeableness are associated with lower glucocorticoid stress levels, which may assist a lion to cope with stressors in its surroundings. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight this integrated approach of linking personality and stress physiology of big cats can be beneficial for caretakers. For example, during stressful veterinary procedures or in reintroduction programs, recognizing the personality of lions can help in designing or providing them with resources that will alleviate stress. Thus, there is a need for more interdisciplinary approaches that will contribute towards enhancing the individual and overall welfare of big cats.

Drivers of stereotypic behaviour and physiological stress among captive jungle cat (Felis chaus Schreber, 1777) in India.

Zoos play a vital role in managing and conserving a wide range of threatened species and in enhancing their populations in natural habitats through captive breeding and reintroduction programmes. Most small felids are poor breeders in zoos, owing to a range of issues such as spatial constraints, diet, disturbance from visitors, small population size, social grouping and other environmental factors in the exhibits. Many of these factors have also been found to influence the glucocorticoid levels among them. Chronic elevations in glucocorticoids can ultimately lead to psychological and physiological problems, eventually affecting reproduction and fitness. We assessed the influence of four biological and seven environmental factors on stress level linked to psychological (stereotype), and physiological (Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolite, FGM) conditions and positive welfare behaviour (active and inactive) among 14 jungle cats Felis chaus managed at three zoos in Indian (two in Kerala and one in Maharashtra) during May 2014-March 2017. Stereotype, a behavioural indicator of stress, and welfare behaviour were assessed through 336 h daylight focal sampling and physiological stress following non-invasive FGM extraction using Enzyme-Immunoassay (EIA) from 63 fresh faecal samples. Overall, jungle cats spent more time on inactive (72%) compared to active behaviour (23%) and 5% on stereotypic behaviour. On average, the jungle cats had 43.3 ng/g of FGM. The Principal Component Analysis on 11 independent factors revealed that daylight hour did not influence active, inactive and stereotype behaviours. In addition, age also had no significant influence on FGM levels. Binary logistic regression revealed that active behaviour was more likely to be observed in cats fed live chicken, housed on natural substrate and in females. Inactive behaviour was significantly lower in younger cats, but higher in cats managed with hideouts. Our results suggest that cats housed with non-relatives and in enclosures lacking hideouts have higher rates of stereotype. Multiple regression analyses on behaviour indicate that active behaviour was significantly higher in cats when the arrival age at the zoo was <1 year, among females compared to males, fed live chicken compared to beef, when managed in natural compared to artificial enclosures and in enclosures without hideouts. Remarkably, inactive behaviour increased significantly with increase in visitor intensity and when cats fed beef compared to live chicken. The stereotypic behaviour was significantly lower in females and higher when the arrival age at the zoo was >1 year. It was also the case when the cats were fed beef vs. whole live chicken, when managed in enclosures without hideouts, and also when managed with unrelated conspecifics compared to those kept in enclosures with hideouts and in solitary condition. The FGM levels were significantly higher among males but lower among cats managed in natural and larger enclosures, and enclosures with hideouts, when compared to those managed in artificial, smaller enclosures and enclosures without hideouts. We recommend the provision of larger (>29 m2) natural enclosures with hideout facilities, management in solitary condition or in social groupings with related conspecifics and feeding of live prey to promote positive welfare and reduce psychological and physiological stress among the jungle cats in zoos.

Prevalence and determinants of stereotypic behaviours and physiological stress among tigers and leopards in Indian zoos.

India's charismatic wildlife species are facing immense pressure from anthropogenic-induced environmental perturbations. Zoos play a major role in the conservation of threatened species, but their adaptation in captivity is posing a major challenge globally. Stress from inadequate adaptation could lead to suppression of cognitive functioning and increased display of stereotypic behaviour. It is thus necessary to measure biological traits like behaviour, stress physiology, and contextual factors driving the animals maintained at zoos. In this study, we assessed stereotypic behaviour and stress physiology employing standard behaviour scoring, non-invasive stress monitoring, and their contextual drivers in a sub-population of two large felid species managed in six Indian zoos. The prevalence and intensity of stereotypic behaviours and levels of faecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM) were ascertained among 41 Royal Bengal tigers Panthera tigris tigris and 21 Indian leopards Panthera pardus fusca between April 2014 and March 2015. Behavioural observations showed that tigers spent more time stereotyping (12%) than leopards (7%) during daylight hours. Stress levels assessed using FCM revealed that tigers (23.6 ± 1.62 ng/g) had marginally lower level of corticosterone metabolites than leopards (27.2 ±1.36 ng/g). Stereotypic behaviour increased significantly with FCM level when the effect of heath status was controlled in tigers, and the effects tree cover, stone, den and keeper attitude controlled in leopards. Comparison of stereotypes of tigers with various biological and environmental factors using binary logistic regression revealed that stereotypic prevalence decreased with increased enclosure size, and enclosure enrichments like presence of pools and stones, when managed socially with conspecifics, and with positive keeper attitude, these factors accounting for 43% of variations in stereotypic prevalence among tigers. Stereotype among leopards was significantly absent when associated with increased tree cover and presence of pool, and den in the enclosure, age and among zoo-born than wild-born ones. These factors explain 81% of variations in stereotypic prevalence in them. A comparison of FCM levels with context-dependent factors revealed that stress levels among tigers decreased significantly with enclosure size and with individuals from nil to low, and severity of health issues. These factors explain 64% of variations in FCM levels. In leopards, the presence of stones in the enclosure and keepers with positive attitude resulted in significant decrease in FCM levels, these factors together accounting for 94% of variations. Multiple regressions on selected variables based on Factor Analysis of Mixed Data showed that in tigers the intensity of stereotype decreased significantly with enclosure size, sociality and positive keeper attitude and FCM level with health problems. Similarly, analyses in leopards revealed that intensity of stereotype decreased significantly with tree cover, age and FCM level with positive keeper attitude. Overall, our study suggests that to reduce stereotypes and stress level, tigers in captivity should be managed in larger enclosures enriched with pool, and stones, and in appropriate social conditions with adequate veterinary care. Leopards should be managed in enclosures with dense tree cover, pool, stones and den. Positive keeper attitude plays a crucial role in the welfare of both the species in captivity. Our study is promising and is comparable with their natural behaviour in the wild; for example, tigers require larger natural habitats, while leopards can manage even with smaller isolated patches but with dense vegetation cover.