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Published June 28, 2023 | Version v1
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Data and code for: The welfare problems of wide-ranging Carnivora reflect naturally itinerant lifestyles

Creators

  • 1. University of Bristol

Description

Carnivora with naturally small annual home ranges can adjust well to the evolutionarily new environment of captivity, but wider-ranging species are vulnerable to stress. To investigate why, we identified eight correlates of home range size (reflecting energetic needs, movement, intra-specific interactions, and itinerant lifestyles). We systematically assessed whether these correlates predict welfare better than range size itself, using data on captive juvenile mortality (from 13,518 individuals across 42 species) and stereotypic route-tracing (456 individuals, 27 species). Rather than large ranges per se, itinerant lifestyles (quantified via ratios of daily to annual travel distances in nature) were found to confer risk, predicting greater captive juvenile losses and stereotypic time-budgets. This result advances our understanding of the evolutionary basis for welfare problems in captive Carnivora, helping to explain why naturally sedentary species (e.g. American mink) may breed even in intensive farm conditions, while others (e.g. polar bears, giant pandas) can struggle even in modern zoos/breeding centres. Naturally itinerant lifestyles involve decision-making and strategic shifts to new locations, suggesting that supplying more novelty, cognitive challenge and/or opportunities for control will be effective ways to meet these animals' motivational needs in captivity.  Such findings could therefore assist with both collection planning and enclosure design.

Notes

Data and code for: Should I stay or should I go? The welfare problems of wide-ranging Carnivora reflect naturally itinerant lifestyles

The files given here provide everything needed to replicate our results and three figures (Figures 2, 3 and S1). See Table S3 for full descriptions of calculations.

Data files are suitable for use in Excel and/or R.

Missing values indicated with 'NA'.

An older dataset of previous work by us [2] was used for analyses shown in Table S2. This dataset is in a separate .csv file, and its metadata is described under its own heading below. 

Metadata for main analyses:

  • Species: species scientific name
  • Common_name: species common name
  • RT: median % observations route-tracing
  • Prop_no_FE: proportion of captive animals that did not (/unknown if they did) receive foraging enrichments
  • Med_cover: median provision of cover within the enclosures of captive animals (ranked: 1 = poorest – 4 = best)
  • CJM: captive juvenile mortality rates [% juveniles dying before 365 days; from 3]
  • CIM: captive infant mortality rates [% infants dying before 30 days; see 1, 2]
  • AEO: age when eyes first open [days; from 4]
  • AHR: median annual home range size (km2; literature searches)
  • CV: AHR's coefficient of variation
  • BM: body mass [kg; from 4]
  • IMN: individual metabolic need [from or calculated following: 5, 13, 14]
  • GMN: group metabolic need [IMN x population size; the latter taken from 7, and following 12]
  • Pro: regional productivity [g/m2; calculated using values from: 4, 6, 8]
  • TN: trophic niche. From [4] and simplified to 1 = carnivores and 0 = omnivores/herbivores
  • HM: % of diet that is self-hunted meat [from 15]
  • Dens: population density [n animals per km2; from 4]
  • T: territoriality. From [11]: 1 = territorial (defended home range); 0 = non-territorial (undefended home range)
  • P: predation risk. From [9]: 1 = one or more known predator(s) (of adult animals); 0 = no reported predators (of adult animals)
  • DDT: median daily distance travelled (km; literature searches)
  • HV: hippocampal volume [ml; from 10]
  • BVOL: brain volume [ml; from 10]
  • DD_AD: ratio daily: annual travel distances calculated using AHR and DDT.

 

Metadata for Kroshko et al. [2] dataset (Table S2)

  • As above with the following extra describing species-typical husbandry:
  • Med_encl: median enclosure size (m2)
  • Med_vert: median ranked score for vertical complexity within the enclosure (1 = poorest – 4 = best)
  • Prop_same_social: proportion housed in similar social grouping as per the wild
  • Med_meals: median meal frequency per day
  • Prop_fed_am: proportion fed in the morning (or morning and afternoon) versus afternoon only
  • Med_diet_div: median diet diversity (count of different food types)
  • Prop_starve: proportion of animals that have 1 or more starve days each week 
  • Prop_process: proportion of animals fed an entirely processed diet
  • Med_study: median date of papers contributing to captive animal species summary statistics

References

  1. Clubb, R. and G.J. Mason, Natural behavioural biology as a risk factor in carnivore welfare: How analysing species differences could help zoos improve enclosures. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2007. 102(3): p. 303-328.
  2. Kroshko, J., R. Clubb, L. Harper, E. Mellor, A. Moehrenschlager, and G. Mason, Stereotypic route tracing in captive Carnivora is predicted by species-typical home range sizes and hunting styles. Animal Behaviour, 2016. 117: p. 197-209.
  3. Roller, M., D.W.H. Müller, M.F. Bertelsen, L. Bingaman Lackey, J.-M. Hatt, and M. Clauss, The historical development of juvenile mortality and adult longevity in zoo-kept carnivores. Zoo Biology, 2021. 40(6): p. 588-595.
  4. Jones, K.E., J. Bielby, M. Cardillo, S.A. Fritz, J. O'Dell, C.D.L. Orme, K. Safi, W. Sechrest, E.H. Boakes, C. Carbone, C. Connolly, M.J. Cutts, J.K. Foster, R. Grenyer, M. Habib, C.A. Plaster, S.A. Price, E.A. Rigby, J. Rist, A. Teacher, O.R.P. Bininda-Emonds, J.L. Gittleman, G.M. Mace, and A. Purvis, PanTHERIA: a species-level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals. Ecology, 2009. 90(9): p. 2648-2648.
  5. McNab, B.K., Basal rate of metabolism, body size, and food habits in the order Carnivora, in Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution, J.L. Gittleman, Editor. 1989, Cornell University Press: Ithica, NY. p. 335-351.
  6. Stephenson, N., Actual evapotranspiration and deficit: biologically meaningful correlates of vegetation distribution across spatial scales. Journal of Biogeography, 1998. 25(5): p. 855-870.
  7. Gittleman, J.L., Carnivore Behavior, Ecology, and Evolution. 1989, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
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  9. Noonan, M.J., C. Newman, C.D. Buesching, and D.W. Macdonald, Evolution and function of fossoriality in the Carnivora: implications for group-living. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2015. 3.
  10. Patzke, N., M.A. Spocter, K. Karlsson, M.F. Bertelsen, M. Haagensen, R. Chawana, S. Streicher, C. Kaswera, E. Gilissen, A.N. Alagaili, O.B. Mohammed, R.L. Reep, N.C. Bennett, J.M. Siegel, A.O. Ihunwo, and P.R. Manger, In contrast to many other mammals, cetaceans have relatively small hippocampi that appear to lack adult neurogenesis. Brain Struct Funct, 2015. 220(1): p. 361-83.
  11. Grant, J.W.A., C.A. Chapman, and K.S. Richardson, Defended versus undefended home range size of carnivores, ungulates and primates. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 1992. 31(3): p. 149-161.
  12. Gittleman, J.L. and P.H. Harvey, Carnivore home-range size, metabolic needs and ecology. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, 1982. 10: p. 57–63.
  13. McNab, B.K., The Influence of Food Habits on the Energetics of Eutherian Mammals. Ecological Monographs, 1986. 56(1): p. 1-19.
  14. McNab, B.K., Complications inherent in scaling the basal rate of metabolism in mammals. Q Rev Biol, 1988. 63(1): p. 25-54.
  15. Wilman, H., J. Belmaker, J. Simpson, C. de la Rosa, M.M. Rivadeneira, and W. Jetz, EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology, 2014. 95(7): p. 2027-2027.

Funding provided by: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000038
Award Number:

Funding provided by: University of Guelph
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100008986
Award Number:

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Is derived from
10.5061/dryad.pk0p2ngsp (DOI)