Behavioural Impact Of Enclosure Relocation On Asiatic Elephants (Elephas Maximus) In Artis Royal Zoo, Amsterdam.

It can have negative consequences when the standards of well-being of animal are not met in a captive environment. The main priority of this study was to determine whether a more enriched enclosure could reduce stereotypic behaviour and increase natural behaviours in captive Asiatic elephants, and thus increase well-being. In order to answer this question the Asiatic elephants in Artis Royal Zoo were studied. Artis Royal Zoo had built a new enclosure to improve the well-being of their elephants. Activity budgets of the three elephants of both the new and old enclosure were studied. Observation was done over a period of three months ,between April 2017 and July 2017 for a total of 26 days. Only Thong-Thai, mother of Yindee and Sanuk, exhibited stereotypic behaviour. There was a significant difference found between the stereotypic behaviour averages per enclosure when consume/forage behaviour and enclosures were included in the model. Both Thong-Thai and Yindee reduced their consume/foraging behaviour when relocated. All three elephants increased in walking behaviour when relocated with a maximum difference exhibited by Yindee. Only Yindee increased in enrichment use behaviour. Also, like Rees (2009), a negative correlation was found between stereotypic behaviour and consume/foraging behaviour in both enclosures. The behavioural data can only give an indication of improved well-being and we may not have seen extreme positive signs yet but we can say that the new enclosure provides a more abundant set of options to the elephants. These extra options remove mental and physical barriers and stimulate the animal to exhibit natural behaviour which can only be a good thing (McPhee & Carlstead, 2010).

圈养环境中若未满足动物福祉标准，将可能产生负面影响。本研究的核心目标为探究：丰容程度更高的圈舍能否减少圈养亚洲象（Asiatic elephants）的刻板行为（stereotypic behaviour），提升其自然行为（natural behaviours）表达，进而改善动物福祉。为解答该问题，本研究以阿蒂斯皇家动物园（Artis Royal Zoo）内的亚洲象为研究对象。该动物园为改善亚洲象福祉新建了一处圈舍。研究分别记录了三头亚洲象在新旧两处圈舍中的活动时间分配（activity budgets）。观测周期为2017年4月至7月，共计三个月，累计开展观测26天。仅名为通泰（Thong-Thai，即Yindee与Sanuk的母象）的个体表现出刻板行为。当将取食/觅食行为与圈舍类型纳入模型分析后，结果显示不同圈舍间的刻板行为平均时长存在显著差异。通泰与Yindee在迁至新圈舍后，其取食/觅食行为均有所减少。所有三头亚洲象在迁至新圈舍后，行走行为均有所增加，其中以Yindee的行为变化幅度最大。仅Yindee的丰容使用行为（enrichment use behaviour）出现显著提升。此外，与Rees（2009）的研究结果一致，本研究在两处圈舍中均发现刻板行为与取食/觅食行为呈负相关关系。本研究获取的行为数据仅能作为动物福祉改善的间接指示，尽管尚未观测到极端正向的行为变化，但可以确认新圈舍为亚洲象提供了更为多样的行为选择空间。这些额外的选择消除了心理与生理层面的行为限制，可激励动物展现自然行为，这对动物福祉而言无疑是有益的（McPhee & Carlstead, 2010）。