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      Why the “Visitor Effect” Is Complicated. Unraveling Individual Animal, Visitor Number, and Climatic Influences on Behavior, Space Use and Interactions With Keepers—A Case Study on Captive Hornbills

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          Abstract

          A “visitor effect” on zoo-housed species has been documented since the 1970s, with research focused on mammals (specifically primates). To broaden our understanding of the “visitor effect” in a non-mammal, we conducted a case study on a pair of hornbills, recording behavior and aviary use alongside of visitor and keeper presence. Temperature and humidity were significant predictors of visitor number, and temperature was a better predictor of hornbill exhibit use than visitor presence. Behavior was significantly affected by the presence of keepers and individual variation in behavior was noted too. Visitor number mediated any interest in a keeper by birds: high visitor number decreased a bird's interest in its keeper. Whilst only a case study on a pair of birds, our research shows that any “visitor effect” is heavily influenced by other environmental variables and that different categories of human (i.e., visitor, keeper) affect how zoo animals utilize their environment.

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          The Visitor Effect on Zoo Animals: Implications and Opportunities for Zoo Animal Welfare

          Simple Summary Research has shown that an animal’s welfare is highly dependent on how various individual animal factors (e.g., species traits, genetics, temperament and previous experience) interact with environmental features (e.g., social grouping, enclosure design and sensory environment). One prominent feature of a zoo’s environment is the presence of visitors. Decades of research on the visitor effect in zoos has demonstrated that visitors can have negative, neutral or positive impacts on zoo animal behaviour and welfare. This paper reviews the literature on the implications and potential opportunities of human–zoo animal interactions on animal behaviour and welfare, with the aim of stimulating interest, understanding and exploration of this important subject. Abstract Achieving and maintaining high standards of animal welfare is critical to the success of a modern zoo. Research has shown that an animal’s welfare is highly dependent on how various individual animal factors (e.g., species traits, genetics, temperament and previous experience) interact with environmental features (e.g., social grouping, enclosure design and sensory environment). One prominent feature of the zoo environment is the presence of visitors. Visitor contact can be unpredictable and intense, particularly in terms of auditory and visual interaction. Depending on an animal’s perception of this interaction, visitors can have either negative, neutral or positive impacts on zoo animal behaviour and welfare. This paper reviews the literature on the implications and potential opportunities of human-zoo animal interactions on animal behaviour and welfare, with the aim of stimulating interest, understanding and exploration of this important subject. The literature to date presents a mixed range of findings on the topic. It is possible this variation in the responses of zoo animals to visitors may be due to species-specific differences, the nature and intensity of the visitor interactions, enclosure design, and individual animal characteristics. Analysing these studies and better understanding animal preferences and motivations can provide insight into what animals find negatively and positively reinforcing in terms of visitor contact in a specific zoo setting. This understanding can then be applied to either safeguard welfare in cases where visitors can have a negative impact, or, conversely, it can be applied to highlight opportunities to encourage animal-visitor interaction in situations where animals experience positive emotions associated with visitor interaction.
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            Visitors' effects on the welfare of animals in the zoo: a review.

            Since the 1970s, research about zoo visitors' effects on the welfare of nonhuman animals in captivity has intensified. Numerous studies have shown that characteristics such as visitor presence, density, activity, size, and position are associated with animal behavioral and--to a lesser extent physiological--changes. Studies usually interpret these changes as negative (undesirable) or positive (enriching), but it remains unclear whether they significantly impinge on animal welfare. To make confident conclusions about visitors' effects necessitates more studies using (a) a wider range of animal groupings, (b) measures of stress, (c) visitor-animal variables, and (d) other methodological improvements In the meantime, in addition to further research, individual zoos need to emphasize (a) monitoring the stress indicators of their captive animals, (b) observing visitor behavior, and (c) ensuring that staffs are aware of the "visitor effect" concept.
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              A preliminary model of human–animal relationships in the zoo

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Vet Sci
                Front Vet Sci
                Front. Vet. Sci.
                Frontiers in Veterinary Science
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                2297-1769
                28 April 2020
                2020
                : 7
                : 236
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Department of Psychology, University of Exeter , Exeter, United Kingdom
                [2] 2WWT Slimbridge , Gloucester, United Kingdom
                [3] 3Sparsholt College , Winchester, United Kingdom
                Author notes

                Edited by: Luigi Baciadonna, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom

                Reviewed by: Cristiano Schetini Azevedo, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Brazil; Francesca Bandoli, Società Zoologica di Pistoia Srl, Italy; Alizée Vernouillet, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

                *Correspondence: Paul E. Rose p.rose@ 123456exeter.ac.uk

                This article was submitted to Animal Behavior and Welfare, a section of the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science

                Article
                10.3389/fvets.2020.00236
                7199352
                0e114313-4dcb-4bad-923c-36866314fa70
                Copyright © 2020 Rose, Scales and Brereton.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 12 February 2020
                : 07 April 2020
                Page count
                Figures: 3, Tables: 1, Equations: 0, References: 52, Pages: 9, Words: 7014
                Categories
                Veterinary Science
                Original Research

                ceratogymna atrata,black-casqued hornbill,bird behavior,visitor effect,keeper effect,zoo animal welfare

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