I found an article that the ZooNewsDigest found and posted on their Facebook page the other day.. It's about a zoo in India called Vandalur Zoo which has incorporated into an enclosure "Cooperative feeding".
Below is the link to the article:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/chen-society/junglestyle-feeding-introduced-at-zoo/article6363309.eceBelow is the link to the article:
Cooperative feeding is inspired by the wild behaviours. In the wild, the most dominant animal of the species would get the food first and then it would let the others in the group feed afterwards.
However, in captivity because the individual animals come from different places, so to be able to observe the best possible wild behaviours in captivity; the cooperative feeding technique becomes a valuable technique to try.
I feel that this technique will be much better for groups that share feeds like this, purely because it will encourage more natural behaviours and then it gives the opportunity for the less dominant individuals to have the right amount of food, to be enriched and have the attention from others that they need and then with this technique as natural behaviours will be observed they should become less fearful with the group.
As stated in the article, this technique would probably then increase the chances of the public being able to see the behaviours that would be seen in the wild when the public wouldn't necessarily get the chance to see. It would also decrease aggressiveness in the groups as each individual would get the right amount of food they need.
What I have just said is basically all in the article, but I agree with the article that it can be much better for groups and should increase natural behaviours.
What do you think about this "cooperative feeding" in a zoo environment? Feel free to discuss, debate and comment on this below!
No comments:
Post a Comment