- Zoos: A Historical Perspective from Smithsonian Institution Libraries
The National Zoological Park is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.
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From Erika Bauer, the Zoo’s first Fujifilm Curatorial Resident in Animal Care
July 2007
Another month has flown by, and I have had many amazing experiences as I’ve grown to understand more and more about how things work here at the National Zoo. I’d like to share with you one particular aspect of my work, which has been my primary focus for the last few weeks.
Otters
I have been watching otters. And reading about otters. And writing about otters. But mostly I have been watching otters. Why have I been so focused on otters? Research!
Part of my job here is to initiate and facilitate research that investigates issues related to animal care and management, and the Asian small-clawed otters housed at Asia Trail are going to be experiencing a pretty significant shift in their management routine very soon.
We will soon be bringing two new female small-clawed otters to Asia Trail, and although the six males in our current collection won’t be housed directly with the females, they will be housed in the same building. This means that the males will be able to see, smell, and hear the females. To me, the plan to bring in females presented an opportune chance to investigate the social behavior of the male group, and how they would be affected by the presence of their new neighbors.
From a behavioral research perspective, this situation is interesting in and of itself. But I should give you some background on why this situation is worthy of study from an animal care and management perspective. To do this, it’s important to understand a bit about how zoos work.
Zoos Working Collaboratively
Like many zoos, the National Zoo actively participates in Species Survival Plans (SSPs), which are managed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. SSPs determine the best plan for managing and sustaining zoo populations of a variety of species, most of which are endangered.
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| This spring, three cheetah brothers came to the Zoo to breed, as recommended by the Species Survival Plan for cheetahs. |
As responsible caretakers for these animals, we want to ensure that these populations are healthy and as genetically diverse as possible, so we participate in SSP programs and comply with SSP recommendations. The experts who coordinate the SSP determine which animals in the population should be given the opportunity to breed, where animals should be housed when they are not breeding, and other important population management decisions. (You might wonder why animals are transferred from zoo to zoo—this is often the reason.)
Due to the breeding determinations that are made for the good of the species, SSPs often have to figure out what should be done with surplus non-breeding males. This is especially an issue in polygynous species (species in which one male mates with several females.) Zoos are often asked to house bachelor groups of males until breeding recommendations are made for particular individuals. This is the situation we have with our group of six Asian small-clawed otter brothers here at the Zoo.
Harmonious Relationships
An important issue for these bachelor groups is whether they can maintain harmonious relationships with one another over time. It is much easier to manage one cohesive male group than it is to manage several smaller groups (or several individuals who need to be housed separately). And it is much better for the animals if their social groups serve to enrich their lives rather than add stress to their lives. Therefore, when we have these bachelor groups, it is important to monitor the social dynamics of the group (particularly aggression) and be aware of any indication that the group might splinter into smaller groups that would need to be managed separately.
Our group of otters consists of six brothers from three different litters. As you might imagine, these otters, like most brothers, have skirmishes from time to time. But for the most part, this group gets along pretty well. And the Asia Trail keepers make special efforts to reinforce good behavior.
For example, they hold daily training sessions that require good group behavior from the otters. Keepers call the otters over to a particular part of their exhibit to sit in a line. The otters have to do this peacefully or they won’t be rewarded. Then the keepers give each otter a fish—smelt, which they love—one by one. If any of the otters tries to steal a fish or displays any aggression toward his brothers, he doesn't get his fish.
It is important to note that the otters aren’t deprived of any part of their daily diet if they do not get rewarded in these sessions. They eventually get the fish later that day. They just don’t get it during the training session if they behave poorly. This is a great example of how training can be used to support both immediate animal management goals and ultimate conservation goals.
Introducing the X Factor
As you might have guessed, bringing females into the otter building presents a bit of an X factor. This group of males has never been housed near female otters, and we really don’t know how the brothers will react to their presence. This is where a behavioral study comes in handy. By systematically monitoring social interactions among the males before and after the females arrive, we can scientifically measure the effect that the females have on the behavior of the males.
I thought it would also be interesting if we could create a situation that might help to predict the reaction of the males even before the females arrived. Perhaps exposing the males to the scent of the females (by exposing the males to fecal samples from the females) would reveal whether we would be faced with problems. And if that scenario indicated problems were likely, we could adapt our management plan proactively to mitigate the problems.
So I had an idea of what the design of the project should be. But what would it be like to observe the otters, and what specific behavior should I record? We are mostly concerned about rates of aggression going up among the males, but we wanted to monitor other behaviors as well. It is always important to “know your critter” prior to conducting a behavioral study, so I reviewed the existing literature on otters and I spent many hours observing the otters at Asia Trail.
How to Observe and Record Behaviors
During this time, I developed an ethogram that would be appropriate for this study. An ethogram is a list of behaviors, along with specific descriptions of what the behaviors look like. Ethograms vary depending on the species you want to study (the behavioral repertoire of each species is different), as well as your research question.
If you want to know about the sleep cycle of an animal, for example, you don’t need to record every specific behavior, like foraging, object play, climbing, and grooming. But you might record more general behaviors like sleeping, awake but inactive, and awake and active.
Ethograms are important research tools, because they help to ensure that consistent data are being collected both by the same observer over time and by multiple observers. Behavioral definitions need to be specific enough to keep everyone on the same page about what they are observing.
Because I’m primarily interested in potential changes in social behavior in the otters, I developed an ethogram that included such behaviors as aggression, social play, social grooming, and social proximity (how close individuals are to one another), and conducted some pilot observations to make sure it worked.
Next Steps
At this point, I had an interesting research question, a research plan, and an appropriate ethogram for collecting behavioral data. But even a researcher on staff here at the Zoo cannot conduct studies willy-nilly.
Stay tuned for next month’s installment, in which I will tell you more about the process for coordinating a behavioral study in a zoological park.
