Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T04:18:18.444Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effect of environmental enrichment on play behaviour in white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

SSC Nogueira ,
JP Soledade ,
S Pompéia  and
SLG Nogueira-Filho
SSC Nogueira*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC, Rod Ilhéus Itabuna km 16, Ilhéus, BA, Brazil 45662-000
JP Soledade
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC, Rod Ilhéus Itabuna km 16, Ilhéus, BA, Brazil 45662-000
S Pompéia
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo - UNIFESP, R Napoleão de Barros 925, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
SLG Nogueira-Filho
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz - UESC, Rod Ilhéus Itabuna km 16, Ilhéus, BA, Brazil 45662-000
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Herds of white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) have historically been kept in captivity in order to replace stocks lost to hunting however the lack of knowledge regarding their species-typical behaviour remains an impediment to understanding their captive needs. Environmental enrichment has been suggested as an efficient way of decreasing aggression and apathy as well as increasing the expression of normal behavioural acts — such as play behaviour — which may, in turn, contribute to improved husbandry conditions. Therefore, the aims of this study were to describe play behaviour in this species and analyse the effects of environmental enrichment on such behaviour as well as on agonistic expression and inactivity. The occurrence of solitary and social play acts were recorded, as well as agonistic interactions and inactivity (resting positions) in two conditions (non-enriched and enriched with ball, hose and see-saw). This study included 24 captive peccaries three of which were juveniles, nine sub-adults and 12 adults, with a 1:1 sex ratio. The relationship between social dominance hierarchy and play behaviour was also analysed in each observational condition. Enrichment resulted in increased solitary and social acts of playing both in juvenile/sub-adult and adult peccaries. All the individuals played with the introduced objects and spent less time in resting positions throughout the enrichment phase. However, no decrease in agonistic interactions was observed and dominant individuals played more with the objects. Our study showed that environmental enrichment stimulated play behaviour in white-lipped peccaries as well as decreasing levels of inactivity; this may lead to improvements in the welfare of individuals in captive breeding centres.

Keywords

animal welfarecaptive breedingendangered speciesplay behavioursocial behavioursocial dominance
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 505 - 514
Copyright
© 2011 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Altmann, J 1974 Observational study of behaviour: sampling methods. Behaviour 49: 223–265CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bekoff, M 1972 The development of social interaction, play, and metacomunication in mammals: an ethological perspective. The Quarterly Review of Biology 47: 412–434CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bekoff, M 1977 Mammalian dispersal and ontogeny of individual behavioural phenotypes. The American Naturalist 111: 715–732CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boissy, A, Manteuffel, G, Jensen, MB, Moe, RO, Spruijt, B, Keeling, LJ, Winckler, C, Forkman, B, Dimitrov, I, Langbein, J, Bakken, M, Veissier, I and Aubert, A 2007 Assessment of positive emotions in animals to improve their welfare. Physiology and Behaviour 92: 375–397CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Byers, JA 1984 Play in ungulates. In: Smith, PK (ed) Play in Animals and Humans pp 43–65. Blackwell Scientific: Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
Bracke, MBM, Zonderland, JJ, Lenskens, P, Schouten, WGP, Vermeer, H, Spoolder, HAM, Hendriks, HJM and Hopster, H 2006 Formalised review of environmental enrichment for pigs in relation to political decision making. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 98: 165–182CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrasco, L, Colell, M, Calvo, M, Abelló, MT, Velasco, M and Posada, S 2009 Benefits of training/playing therapy in a group of captive lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). Animal Welfare 18: 9–19Google Scholar
Carlstead, K 1996 Effects of captivity on the behaviour of wild mammals. In: Thompson, KV (ed) Wild Mammals in Captivity: Principles and Techniques Managing pp 317–333. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, USAGoogle Scholar
de Vries, H 1995 An improved test of linearity in dominance hierarchies containing unknown or tied relationships. Animal Behaviour 50: 1375–1389CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Vries, H 1998 Finding a dominance order most consistent with a linear hierarchy: a new procedure and review. Animal Behaviour 55: 827–843CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Vries, H and Appleby, MC 2000 Finding an appropriate order for a hierarchy: a comparison of the I&SI and the BBS methods. Animal Behaviour 59: 239–245CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drea, CM, Hawk, JE and Glickman, SE 1996 Aggression decreases as play emerges in infant spotted hyaenas: preparation for joining the clan. Animal Behaviour 51: 1323–1336CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubost, G 2001 Comparison of the social behaviour of captive sympatric peccary species (genus Tayassu); correlation with their ecological characteristics. Mammalian Biology 66: 65–83Google Scholar
Dudink, S, Simonse, H, Marks, I, de Jonge, FH and Spruijt, BM 2006 Announcing the arrival of enrichment increases play behaviour and reduces weaning-stress-induced behaviours of piglets directly after weaning. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 101: 86–101CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagen, R 1981 Animal Play Behaviour. Oxford University Press: Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar
Fragoso, JMV 1998 Home range and movement patterns of white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) herds in the Northern Brazilian Amazon. Biotropica 30: 458–469CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser, D and Duncan, IJH 1998 ‘Pleasures’, ‘pains’ and animal welfare: toward a natural history of affect. Animal Welfare 7: 383–396Google Scholar
Hall, KRL 1968 Behaviour and ecology of the wild patas monkey, Erythrocebus patas, in Uganda. Journal of Zoology 148: 15–87CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, A 1987 Consumer demand theory and the assessment of animal welfare. Animal Behaviour 35: 293–295CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehner, PN 1996 Handbook of Ethological Methods. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UKGoogle Scholar
Maple, TL and Perkins, L 1996 Enclosure furnishings and structural environmental enrichment. In: Kleiman, DG, Allen, ME, Thompson, KV and Poole, T (eds) Wild Mammals in Captivity: Principles and Techniques Managing pp 317–333. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, USAGoogle Scholar
Martin, P and Bateson, P 1993 Measuring Behaviour: An Introductory Guide, Second Edition pp 222. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UKCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, G, Clubb, R, Latham, N and Vickery, S 2007 Why and how should we use environmental enrichment to tackle stereotypic behaviour? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 102: 163–188CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newberry, RC, Wood-Gush, DGM and Hall, J 1988 Playful behaviour of piglets. Behavioural Processes 17: 205–216CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nogueira-Filho, SLG 1999 A Criação de Cateto e Queixada Viçosa. MG: Centro de Produções Técnicas. [Title translation: The captive breeding of collared and white-lipped peccaries]Google Scholar
Nogueira-Filho, SLG and Nogueira, SSC 2004 Captive breeding programmes as an alternative for wildlife conservation in Brazil. In: Silvius, KM, Bodmer, RE and Fragoso, JMV (eds) People in Nature, Wildlife Conservation in South and Central America pp 171–190. Columbia University Press: New York, USACrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nogueira-Filho, SLG, Nogueira, SSC and Sato, T 1999 A estrutura social de pecaris (Mammalia, Tayassuidae) em cativeiro. Revista de Etologia 1: 89–98. [Title translation: The social structure of the peccary in captivity]Google Scholar
Nogueira, SSC, Silva, MG, Dias, CTS, Pompéia, S, Cetra, M and Nogueira-Filho, SLG 2010 Social behaviour of collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) under three space allowances. Animal Welfare 19: 243–248Google Scholar
Palagi, E 2008 Sharing the motivation to play: the use of signals in adult bonobos. Animal Behaviour 75: 887–896CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perkins, LA 1992 Variables that influence the activity of captive orangutans. Zoo Biology 11: 117–86CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharpe, LL 2005 Play does not enhance social cohesion in a cooperative mammal. Animal Behaviour 70: 551–558CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharpe, LL and Cherry, MI 2003 Social play does not reduce aggression in wild meerkats. Animal Behaviour 66: 989–997CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherdson, DJ 1998 Introduction: tracing the path of environmental enrichment in zoos. In: Mellen, JD and Hutchins, M (eds) Second Nature: Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals pp 1–14. Smithsonian Institution: Washington DC, USAGoogle Scholar
Shettleworth, SJ 2010 Cognition, Evolution, and Behaviour pp 136–166. Oxford University Press: New York, USAGoogle Scholar
Soderquist, TR and Serena, M 2000 Juvenile behavior and dispersal of chuditch (Dasyurus geoffroii) (Marusupialia: Dasyuridae). Australian Journal of Zoology 48: 551–560CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sowls, LK 1997 Javelinas and Other Peccaries, Their Biology, Management and Use, Second Edition. University of Arizona Press: Arizona, USAGoogle Scholar
Spinka, M, Newberry, RC and Bekoff, M 2001 Mammalian play: training for the unexpected. The Quarterly Review of Biology 76: 141–168CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taber, A, Chalukian, SC, Altrichter, M, Minkowski, K, Lizárraga, L, Sanderson, E, Rumiz, D, Ventincinque, E, Moraes, EA Jr, Angelo, C, Antúnez, M, Ayala, G, Beck, H, Bodmer, R, Salvador, BB, Cartes, JL, Bustos, S, Eaton, D, Emmons, L, Oliveira, L, Fragoso, J, Garcia, R, Gomez, C, Gómez, H, Keuroghlian, A, Ledesma, K, Lizcano, D, Lozano, C, Montenegro, O, Vieira, JAP, Paviolo, A, Perovic, P, Portillo, H, Radachowsky, J, Reyna-Hurtado, , Rodriguez Ortiz, RJ, Salas, L, Duenas, AS, Perea, JAS, Schiaffino, K, Thoisy, B, Tobler, M, Utreras, V, Varela, D, Wallace, RB and Ríos, GZ 2009 The destiny of the Neotropical forest architects: an evaluation of the distribution and conservation status of the white-lipped peccaries. Suiform Sound 8: 17–19Google Scholar
van Hooff, JARAM and Wensing, JAB 1987 Dominance and its behavioural measures in a captive wolf pack. In: Frank, H (ed) Man and Wolf pp 219–252. Dr W Junk Publishers: Dordrecht, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
Whitehead, H 2009 SOCPROG programs: analyzing animal social structures. Behaviour Ecology and Sociobiology 63: 765–778CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, SF 1982 Environmental influences on the activity of captive apes. Zoo Biology 1: 201–209CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood-Gush, DGM and Vestergaard, K 1991 The seeking of novelty and its relation to play. Animal Behaviour 42: 599–606CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeates, JW and Main, DCJ 2008 Assessment of positive welfare: a review. Veterinarian Journal 175: 293–300Google ScholarPubMed
Young, R 2003 Environmental Enrichment. Blackwell Science: Oxford, UKGoogle Scholar