The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program

We investigated whether the welfare of domestic goats in an animal-visitor interaction experience at a zoo was affected by the presence and behavior of visitors. We considered how the number of visitors in the goats’ habitat and visitor proximity to the goats impacted goat behavior. We also consider...

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Autores principales:	Margaret Ramont, Maureen Leahy, Katherine A. Cronin
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Animal Behavior and Cognition 2021
Materias:	visitor effect ambassador animals animal-visitor interactions petting zoo ungulate animal welfare Zoology QL1-991
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/0fce7bb57d604a3fa95c5cc8a36dd574
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:0fce7bb57d604a3fa95c5cc8a36dd5742021-11-03T19:25:47ZThe Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program10.26451/abc.08.04.04.20212372-50522372-4323https://doaj.org/article/0fce7bb57d604a3fa95c5cc8a36dd5742021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/35/AB_C_Vol8(4)_Ramont_et_al.pdfhttps://doaj.org/toc/2372-5052https://doaj.org/toc/2372-4323We investigated whether the welfare of domestic goats in an animal-visitor interaction experience at a zoo was affected by the presence and behavior of visitors. We considered how the number of visitors in the goats’ habitat and visitor proximity to the goats impacted goat behavior. We also considered the goats’ behavior toward visitors, use of retreat space, and whether the visitors’ interaction style, specifically, how the visitors groomed the goats, was predictive of changes in the goats’ behavior. We conducted 29 hr of focal follows on 7 domestic goats (Capra hircus) at Lincoln Park Zoo, and analyzed data using mixed effects models. We found that goats preferred to be in the visitor yard as visitor numbers increased, and goat behaviors did not change as visitor numbers increased to the maximum allowed (16 people). There were no differences in rates of conspecific aggression or affiliation based on visitor presence or visitor interactions. However, there was a decrease in feeding and increase in self-maintenance behaviors specifically while visitors were in close proximity and interacting with goats. Furthermore, visitor-directed behavior, specifically head tossing, was more common when visitors groomed goats in an improper way. Overall, this study demonstrates that domestic goat welfare was relatively unaffected by the simple presence of visitors when maximum visitor limits were in place and retreat options were available, but that goats were sensitive to visitor interaction styles. These findings support the idea that domestic goats may be appropriate candidates for human-visitor interaction programs under specific conditions.Margaret RamontMaureen LeahyKatherine A. CroninAnimal Behavior and Cognitionarticlevisitor effectambassador animalsanimal-visitor interactionspetting zooungulateanimal welfareZoologyQL1-991ENAnimal Behavior and Cognition, Vol 8, Iss 4, Pp 493-506 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	visitor effect ambassador animals animal-visitor interactions petting zoo ungulate animal welfare Zoology QL1-991
spellingShingle	visitor effect ambassador animals animal-visitor interactions petting zoo ungulate animal welfare Zoology QL1-991 Margaret Ramont Maureen Leahy Katherine A. Cronin The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program
description	We investigated whether the welfare of domestic goats in an animal-visitor interaction experience at a zoo was affected by the presence and behavior of visitors. We considered how the number of visitors in the goats’ habitat and visitor proximity to the goats impacted goat behavior. We also considered the goats’ behavior toward visitors, use of retreat space, and whether the visitors’ interaction style, specifically, how the visitors groomed the goats, was predictive of changes in the goats’ behavior. We conducted 29 hr of focal follows on 7 domestic goats (Capra hircus) at Lincoln Park Zoo, and analyzed data using mixed effects models. We found that goats preferred to be in the visitor yard as visitor numbers increased, and goat behaviors did not change as visitor numbers increased to the maximum allowed (16 people). There were no differences in rates of conspecific aggression or affiliation based on visitor presence or visitor interactions. However, there was a decrease in feeding and increase in self-maintenance behaviors specifically while visitors were in close proximity and interacting with goats. Furthermore, visitor-directed behavior, specifically head tossing, was more common when visitors groomed goats in an improper way. Overall, this study demonstrates that domestic goat welfare was relatively unaffected by the simple presence of visitors when maximum visitor limits were in place and retreat options were available, but that goats were sensitive to visitor interaction styles. These findings support the idea that domestic goats may be appropriate candidates for human-visitor interaction programs under specific conditions.
format	article
author	Margaret Ramont Maureen Leahy Katherine A. Cronin
author_facet	Margaret Ramont Maureen Leahy Katherine A. Cronin
author_sort	Margaret Ramont
title	The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program
title_short	The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program
title_full	The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program
title_fullStr	The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program
title_full_unstemmed	The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program
title_sort	welfare of domestic goats (capra hircus) in a zoo-based animal-visitor interaction program
publisher	Animal Behavior and Cognition
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/0fce7bb57d604a3fa95c5cc8a36dd574
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The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program

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