Behaviors of the large animals at the children's zoo
2013
Chida, E. (Tokyo University of Agriculture (Japan). Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Human and Animal-Plant Relationships) | Negishi, N. | Ando, M. | Ogawa, H. | Kawashima, S.
Comparative behavioral observation was made for 17 goats (males castrated) and 7 sheep at a children's zoo area in the Chiba City Zoo for 18 days from July 28 to November 25, 2012. Observed behavior items were affiliative (approach to human and stand still near human) and refusal (escape and threat) behaviors of the animal towards human, as well as intra- and inter-specific aggressive behaviors among the goat and the sheep. Spatial use patterns of both species in the area were also compared. Behaviors were recorded every 10 minutes. Friendly actions of the goat towards human were significantly higher than refusal actions. With the increase of visitors, both the amicable actions and the refusal actions increased. But the correlation between the frequency of amicable actions and the number of visitors was stronger than that between the refusal actions and the visitors. It seemed that the existence of the visitors is not a burden for the goat. In other words the congested situation caused by visitors may not lead to a dangerous situation. On the other hand, frequency of inter- and intra-specific antagonistic actions of the goat showed neither correlation with the ambient temperature nor the number of visitors. The space use pattern of the goats was greatly different from that of sheep. The goats tended to spread all over the area, while the sheep tended to gather together. The goats were meritorious in that all visitors could touch them, and the sheep was suitable for contact with children. In this display, goats and sheep had both advantage and defect. The mixed breeding of both species is meritorious in compensating for the weak points of each. Merits and demerits of keeping goat, sheep and horse at children's zoos were comparatively discussed.
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