Técnicas de enriquecimento ambiental para onças-pardas (Puma concolor, Linnaeus, 1771) sob cuidados humanos

Abstract

Pumas are important for the ecological equilibrium, but their population is declining due to human activities. Zoos play a significant role in conservation and public awareness. Animals in captivity can develop abnormal behaviors due to stress caused by the inadequate environment, so it is crucial to understand the behaviors of wild animals in captivity to promote their physical and psychological progress. To this end, zoos are using environmental enrichment techniques to improve the welfare of animals under human care. In this context, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of environmental enrichment applied to two pumas (Puma concolor) after the introduction of environmental enrichment, at UNISEP Zoo (Dois Vizinhos - PR). The study was conducted during the month of January 2023, in the morning period, 5 days a week. The applied methodology presented an observation stage with the ad libitum method and three stages of Animal Focal type observations: pre-enrichment (PE), enrichment (E) and post-enrichment (PO). Recordings occurred on a minuteby-minute basis for two hours each day (8:30 am to 10:30 am). The items used were egg box and surprise bag (food and physical enrichment), meat popsicle (food enrichment), surprise box with hay (food and cognitive enrichment), llama hair (sensory enrichment) and box without hay (food enrichment). For data analysis, the Chi-square test was performed to verify the observations of behaviour in each phase were different than expected, then the post-hoc test was applied to verify which behaviors had different observation frequencies than expected. The statistical results showed significant differences between the observation phases. In the preenrichment phase, the most common behaviors (> 1% of the total) accounted for 93% of the behaviors. In the enrichment phase, there was an increase in the number of common behaviors (>1%), with 95.3%. In the post-enrichment phase, there was a decrease in the number of common behaviors (>1%), accounting for 95.3% of the observations. By the Chi-squared test significant results were found for both animals. By post-hoc test it was found that only a few behaviors had results that differed between phases. It is concluded that the pumas’ preference for the environmental enrichment technique applied was the meat popsicle. The environmental enrichment techniques maintained frequently in the zoo routine can be a significant stimulus for the expression of a greater number of behaviors and reduction of stereotyped behavior.