Behavioral decisions for managing social distance and aggression in captive polar bears (Ursus maritimus).
نویسندگان
چکیده
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) in most zoos attracts high levels of public attention and can play an important role in conservation education. Polar bears in the wild are typically solitary; bears in captivity often house socially. This study reported behavioral evidence on how bears manage this situation and whether proximity leads to aggression. The study recorded location and behavior once per minute for 106 hr for 2 female polar bears at the Philadelphia Zoo; the samples represented all times of day bears spent in the enclosure (off-exhibit time spent in separate, indoor dens). When changing locations, 1 bear more frequently moved away from the other, effecting a net increase in interindividual distance. When either bear moved into an adjacent zone, 1 typically moved away. The bears occupied the same enclosure zone for a low proportion of time; proximity did not routinely lead to overt aggression. These data indicate polar bears make behavioral decisions, minimizing aggression, to manage social distance and that enclosure designers for solitary species--to facilitate social avoidance--should consider using topographical complexity and multiple pathways throughout.
منابع مشابه
Genetic relationships of extant brown bears (Ursus arctos) and polar bears (Ursus maritimus).
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and brown bears (Ursus arctos) are closely related species for which extensive mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenetic comparisons have been made. We used previously published genotype data for 8 microsatellite DNA loci from 930 brown bears in 19 populations and 473 polar bears in 16 populations to compare the population genetic relationships of extant populations o...
متن کاملA Case of Offspring Adoption in Free-Ranging Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus)
During a study of the reproductive ecology of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in western Hudson Bay (Canada), we documented a case of litter adoption. In an eight-month period, a ten-year-old adult female lost a litter of two cubs-ofthe-year and adopted three other cubs-of-the-year. This is the first reported case of natural offspring adoption in polar bears, and its significance as a reproductiv...
متن کاملUsing tri-axial accelerometers to identify wild polar bear behaviors
Tri-axial accelerometers have been used to remotely identify the behaviors of a wide range of taxa. Assigning behaviors to accelerometer data often involves the use of captive animals or surrogate species, as their accelerometer signatures are generally assumed to be similar to those of their wild counterparts. However, this has rarely been tested. Validated accelerometer data are needed for po...
متن کاملInfanticide and Cannibalism of Juvenile Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) in Svalbard
Two instances of infanticide and cannibalism in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) were observed in SE Svalbard, at Hopen Island. In the first, an adult male killed three young cubs at a den site and consumed one of them. In the second, an adult male actively pursued, killed, and consumed a dependent yearling. Infanticide of dependent polar bear offspring by adult males may be more common in Svalbar...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of applied animal welfare science : JAAWS
دوره 9 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2006