Interest in coloured objects and behavioural budgets of individual captive freshwater turtles

Thomson, Angus, Bannister, Callum, Marshall, Reece, McNeil, Natasha, Mear, Donna, Lovick-Earle, Susie and Cuculescu-Santana, Mirela (2021) Interest in coloured objects and behavioural budgets of individual captive freshwater turtles. Journal of Zoo and Aquarium Research, 9 (4). pp. 218-227. ISSN 2214-7594

[img]
Preview
Text
623+Thomson+colour+interest+in+turtles+final301021.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (866kB) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.19227/jzar.v9i4.623

Abstract

Recent studies showed that freshwater turtles display inter-individual differences in variousbehavioural traits, which may influence their health and welfare in captivity due to differences inresponse to husbandry and enrichment strategies and in ability to cope with the limitations of thecaptive environment. This study investigated a possible correlation between individual level ofescape behaviour under standard enrichment conditions and level of interest in coloured objects ina group of cooters Pseudemys sp. and sliders Trachemys scripta ssp. on display at a public aquarium.Interest in different colours, colour preference and individual differences in behavioural changes inthe presence of the new enrichment were also studied. Turtles categorised as ‘high’ and ‘moderateescape behaviour’ (17–34 of behavioural budget) showed more interest in coloured objects andtended to display less escape behaviour in their presence, while turtles categorised as ‘low escapebehaviour’ (<10 of behavioural budget) were less interested in coloured objects and tended todisplay more escape behaviour in their presence. Overall, there was more interest in yellow than inred, white or green objects, with more contacts with coloured objects before feeding and at the startof each observation period and a preference for yellow against red objects. The individual differencesin behavioural changes in the presence of the new enrichment suggested that more studies into colourpreference and response to novelty in turtles would be beneficial to ensure that no individuals areunduly stressed by new enrichments.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: enrichment, escape behaviour, novelty stress
Subjects: C300 Zoology
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Applied Sciences
Depositing User: John Coen
Date Deposited: 03 Nov 2021 10:10
Last Modified: 03 Nov 2021 10:15
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/47619

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics