Problems in Adelaide Zoos
The male sun bear periodically paced, even though he now has a good
enclosure. He may have developed this behaviour before being housed in
the new enclosure. Once it develops, abnormal behaviour is quite
persistent.
One squirrel monkey continually circled the cage and at the same
point on each lap circled her head.
On a previous visit, the black jaguar paced up and down, and a red
panda circled his enclosure, repeatedly scent marking the same logs.
Probably more common than abnormal behaviour, but harder to
measure, is boredom. Many animals are inactive because there is nothing
for them to do. This applies particularly to the great apes
(chimpanzees and orangutans) and monkeys (baboons, mandrills and
lion-tailed macaques). For example, the sign for the macaques states
that these animals in the wild use leaves as tools to catch prickly
caterpillars. Chimpanzees use sticks to catch termites or ants, and
find rocks to break open fruit or nuts with hard shells. In their zoo
enclosure there isn't much for them to apply their intelligence to, and
most animals were inactive.
Some birds are in aviaries where it is impossible for them to carry
out their natural behaviour. At Adelaide Zoo, the aviary for 2 Andean
condors appears large. However, considering that these huge birds can
have a wingspan of 3 metres, and would normally soar high in the sky on
thermal air currents, the enclosure is still too small.
At the Gorge Wildlife Park, 2 sea eagles are in pathetically small
aviaries. The wingspan of these birds is around 2 metres, and in the
wild they glide above coastlines and swoop down to grasp fish or other
small animals in their talons. The aviary for 2 wedge-tailed eagles is
much larger, but considering that the wingspan of these birds is around
2.5 metres, it is still not adequate.
One naturalist has described these eagles as follows: "...
flies
with easy, powerful wing beats and glides or soars often to great
heights in majestic circles
". Clearly this behaviour is not
possible in any aviary. It is questionable whether such large birds
should be kept in captivity at all, given the difficulty of providing
an adequate environment.
Parrot species are active, intelligent and sociable, yet many
parrots at Adelaide zoo are in fairly small and bare aviaries. For
example, the aviary for a pair of scarlet Macaws contains only some
bare branches and is too small for large birds to fly freely. The pair
sat inactive in exactly the same spot for a period of 3 hours. Many of
the aviaries for Australian parrots are similar. The same is true at
the Gorge Wildlife Park.
While there is a good waterfowl lake at the Gorge, many waterbirds
are in enclosures with little more than a baby's wading pool of water.
Birds in this category include swans, spoonbills, ibis and egrets. In a
few cases birds, such as the brolga and grass whistling duck, are on
their own, even though in the wild they would be with mates.
At both the Gorge Wildlife Park and Cleland Wildlife Park some
birds have had the last joint of one wing cut off to stop them ever
flying.
Students from the University of Adelaide have from time to time
done enrichment studies at Adelaide Zoo. In one such study in 1997,
meat was presented to the caracal (a small cat) on a cable running
through the enclosure to make the caracal "catch" its meal. In another
example in 1991, puzzles were given to the chimpanzees, some for
exploration and some to get food. Various studies in laboratories have
in investigated puzzle feeders designed to make primates work for their
food, thereby giving them something to do. On the whole, though, it
doesn't seem that zoos use this sort of approach to keep animals
occupied.
Of course, if animals are in their natural environment, as at
Warrawong Sanctuary, they are busy looking for food anyway, and don't
need any further enrichment.
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Zoos
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