The Interaction: Animals Behavior and Mankind

Have you ever gone to the zoo and wondered, “What is that animal thinking about? What really is goes on when we are aren’t here staring at them for hours?” The perception people have of modern day zoos is that they are there to save species, protect them from the real world, and just think they are happy as ever. Well if one were to sit down and do some research they would see that they have some much more ethical questions to ask themselves next time they walked into a zoo. But one thing one may not notice is that animals can react differently in their exhibit depending on who is outside the glass watching them. Males or females, old or young, animal’s behavior can be observed as different and the question becomes why?
In many human-animal interactions, men and woman interact with animals similar. But when it comes to the protection, involvement, and overall care for the animal’s well being, woman have a greater impact than men. Gender differences can be deemed large in the animal’s behavior according to psychologist, Harold Herzog. This then raises an interesting question: When in captivity, are we compromising the animal’s welfare by not confronting the behavioral and psychological changes based on gender differences?
Animal rights are the idea that animals essentially have the same rights as humans. They should be able to live free of suffrage, just like any human and with the same moral status as well. In 1966 the Animal Welfare Act was signed into law. The AWA is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. According to the International League of the Right of animals, “all animals are born with an equal claim on life, are entitled to respectful treatment, and have the right to live freely in their natural environment.” Animal welfare is all about the quality of life an animal gets and is defined by the Five Freedoms. The Five Freedoms include: 1) Freedom from thirst and hunger, 2) Freedom from discomfort, 3) Freedom from pain, injury, and disease, 4) Freedom to express most normal behavior, and 5) Freedom from fear and distress. In the past decade, focus on the forth and fifth freedoms, Freedom to express most normal behavior and Freedom from fear and distress, respectively, has really become a interest in for many college graduate students. Animal welfare science focuses on the scientific study of the welfare of animals as pets, in zoos, laboratories, on farms and in the wild with a focus on behavior and psychology.
The focus on captive animals and their behavior raises animal welfare concerns. One can argue if it is fair to subject these animals to unknown tests. When an animal is forced to perform a trick or in a certain way, it waits to be rewarded or punished. Never would one see a human in an exhibit being asked to run around and wave and then given a cookie for it. Animals in captivity no longer are able to have control over their environment and carry out evolved behaviors targeted at enhancing their welfare or survival prospects. Therefore, they must count on humans to provide their physical, social, biological and other needs. If the proper environment is not given to the species-specific needs, there can be deterioration in both physical and mental health such as the development of abnormal behavior. In 1992, Bill Travers, co-founder of the Born Free Foundation, first coined the term ‘zoochosis’ to describe this obsessive, repetitive behavior, and described zoo animals behaving abnormally as ‘zoochotic’. When animals are restricted of movement, trained using negative reinforcement techniques, being trained to preform unnatural behaviors one can have permanent effects and their minds can lapse. One of my sources makes an interesting cross-examination of animal welfare and psychology and suggests that “gender differences” can effect human-animal interactions. Gender Differences in Human-Animal Interactions by Harold Herzog, an animal psychologist writes in several areas of human- animal interaction such as animal treatment, animal testing, animals as pets, animal abuse and animal protection are all viewed differently by gender. Women generally have more positive attitudes towards animals than men in animal’s rights and protection where men have higher levels of negativity towards animal abuse and pet attachment. This then can be put in question in zoo animal treatment. Are the male keepers treating the animals in different manner than the female keepers? By studying the animals in zoos behavior when certain visitors observe them, many questions are raised
When making alterations to the normal physiology of animals to reduce risks when handling it can cause cruel and ongoing distress; hence Freedom Five. Zoo animals exhibit abnormal behavior and it can include stereotypic behaviors, repetitive behaviors, which appear to have no obvious goal or function. Examples such as repetitive pacing, swaying, head-bobbing or circling and noticeably caused by the frustration of natural behavior patterns and impaired brain function. When you see a monkey smiling at a zoo, its not because it is happy, it’s because it is scared. But when given a treat they think its okay and then their brain function is changed.
The core of my research comes from two sources, the first, Behavioral Monitoring of Big Cats Involved in ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ Zoo Visitor Tours by Monika Szokalski and Wendy Foster both psychology and social policy majors. The second source The Effects of Housing on Zoo Elephant Behavior: A Quantitative Case Study of Diurnal and Seasonal Variation by Beth Posta, a zoologist, and Robert Huber, an animal psychologist. While both observed animal’s behavior in their captive habitats by studying the animals over time, there are some differences that can be observed that then help answer my angle of inquiry.
Posta and Huber as well as Szokalski and Foster both found that captivity of animals may be compromising the integrity of the animal due to its lack of natural habitat but what Szokalski and Foster find in their studies was interesting. They found that visitor interaction with big cats such as lions, tigers, and cheetahs had some positive impact on the animals. Although it is completely unnatural for humans to interact with these animals if they were in the wild, Szokalski and Foster found that it helped the animals be less inactive and hungrier than without human interaction (83).
Posta and Huber took a similar approach but observed how seasons, time of day and housing of elephants in zoos. They are concerned that elephants and other intelligent animals need to have more physical and psychological health concern evaluations to try and preserve the welfare of these animals in zoos. Elephant’s habitats at zoos leave them frightened and frustrated and their studies show it only worsens in night and the fall and winter months (38). By being in captivity, they loose all sense of how to hunt for food and become dependent on the keepers: losing their integrity and losing the purpose of preserving the species in zoos. Szokalski and Foster would agree that this is a problem. The well being/welfare of the animal is in question and something needs to be done.
Coe found that people rated the qualities of animals shown in cages different from those shown in natural surroundings and argued that the design of exhibits can influence the perception of exhibits in terms of a dominance-submissive dimension (199). If the visitor is looking down on the captive animal from above rather than looking up at the animal from below, the visitor is more likely to perceive a dominance role over the animal. Here Herzog and his views that males are superior to females and animals are displayed. Animals can sense this and when males come to their exhibit they become submissive at times (10). Herzog explains that this gender issue can cause mental and psychological issues. Social influences affect the animal as well. Not only from the visitor, but the trainer/keeper as well. Here Szokalski and Foster and Herzog can argue that gender does in fact play a role on how an animal perceives its habitat and welfare. Herzog found that animals react better to female keepers. He also found that children have more of an impact on an animal’s behavior such as in chimps and elephants. People tend to conform to the behavior of others by imitating others. For example, Bitgood and Patterson have found that feeding at a monkey island usually occurred in a chain of individuals feeding the animals immediately after one person started. People also adjust their speed of walking to the crowd (732). Finally, crowds attract people if they believe the crowd has formed to view something of interest, whereas crowds repel people if a long wait with inadequate return is anticipated. Szokalski and Foster found here that this kind of zoo interaction adds stress on the animals because it becomes too much. Zoos need to be able to limit this and keep in mind it is causing stress, which can lead to animals lashing out on the humans or a change in eating patterns that could lead to psychology issues of the animal (85).
The studies of elephant behavior during seasons in The Effects of Housing on Zoo Elephant Behavior: A Quantitative Case Study of Diurnal and Seasonal Variation show that not only does gender effect behavior but there are many different variables. The elephants had become lazy and obese during the winter months but if social interaction with the public was permitted Posta and Huber feel like the results altered welfare in a positive way. They concluded that the elephants one male and female, mother and son pair, were extremely adaptable during the four seasons and with this they are able to help other zoos make exhibits to accommodate the animals and keep behavior as normal as possible. Posta and Huber also found that the keepers were mainly females and the animals adapted well to them, which led to nurturing behavior of the female elephant (51).
Szokalski and Foster found that when people were present, the cat’s behaviors were more stressed. Pacing and scratching in females increased with the lack of visitors, but with more visitors present, male cats became more aggressive (86). With more humans, the more submissive and stressed. The welfare of the animals is in jeopardy. After the tours the animals became submissive with their trainers regardless of gender. A large amount of human-animal interaction as Herzog states in Gender Differences in Human-Animal Interactions is detrimental to the animal’s well being. With the animals in captivity having limited memory, this could harm the species and the future breeding and species preservation. This is exactly what zoos should not want to do. How to you preserve a species and try and save them when you’re breeding them into animals that are losing all sense of “wild”.
Overall these three sources raise an interesting point and angle of inquiry. To think back to is there a connection between animal welfare and animal psychology based on the captivity environment? The answer can become clear that there is. As for is there any truth to that inquiry that gender of the keeper and guest can affect the behavior of the animal therefore affecting its welfare? There is some evidence to lean towards yes but much more research needs to be done to fully get an answer. We get a good sense that animals pick up on male dominance and just like us humans, animals are the same way. Gender Differences in Human-Animal Interactions by Harold Herzog, Behavioral Monitoring of Big Cats Involved in ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ Zoo Visitor Tours by Monika Szokalski and Wendy Foster, The Effects of Housing on Zoo Elephant Behavior: A Quantitative Case Study of Diurnal and Seasonal Variation by Beth Posta and Robert Huber all support this angle of inquiry and really raise an important question that should be researched more. Not only just to know but it could forever change zoo life. Maybe zoos are not the best for wildlife conservation and species preservation. All three are anti-zoo life due to psychological issues and the concern for animal preservation. The public has no idea the hurt they are doing to animals by visiting zoos and they should be aware because maybe we could get rid of zoos or try figuring a new way of going about it.
I like that Szokalski and Foster were able to show that behind the scenes tours has an effect on the animals. I also liked how it was able to connect to Herzog and his gender concerns. They both raised red flags if zoos are the best things for animals while giving many valid examples that these animals are not psychologically capable of being wild animals again but that their welfare is not too much of a concern besides when behavioral issues arise. People need to be more aware of how these animals in zoos are affected and they need to start doing more research just as I did. These animals are being brainwashed as well as being put into situations that can affect their behavior in a negative way forever. There needs to be more gender-animal relationship studies because these articles and studies are really onto something interesting for the future of zoos.
Work Cited * Bitgood, S., Patterson, D., Benefield, A., & Landers, A. (1986). Understanding your visitors: Ten factors that influence visitor behavior. Proceedings of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums. pp. 726-743. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. * Coe, J. (1985). Design and perception: Making the zoo experience real. Zoo Biology, 4:197-208. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. * Herzog, Harold. "Gender Differences in Human–Animal Interactions: A Review." 20.1 (2007): 7-17. Print. * Posta, Beth, and Robert Huber. "The Effects of Housing on Zoo Elephant Behavior: A Quantitative Case Study of Diurnal and Seasonal Variation." nternational Journal of Comparative Psychology. 26. (2013): 37-52. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. * Szokalski, Monika, and Wendy Foster. " Behavioral Monitoring of Big Cats Involved in ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ Zoo Visitor Tours." Behavioral Monitoring of Big Cats Involved in ‘Behind-the-Scenes’ Zoo Visitor Tours. 26. (2013): 83-104. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.