Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be

Jeroen Stevens presents Poster 75 during the poster sessions in the Aula.
Session theme 6: Free topics
147
Poster 75
VISITOR EFFECTS ON VIGILANCE BEHAVIOUR AND VISIBILITY OF
CAPTIVE HARBOUR SEALS (PHOCA VITULINA)
J.M.G. Stevens 1 , A. Thyssen 2 , H. Vervaecke 2
1 Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
2 Kaho Sint Lieven/ Association University of Louvain, Agro- & Biotechnology, Ethology Group, Sint Niklaas,
Belgium
Research into the effects of visitors on the behaviour and welfare of wild animals in captivity has
increased in the last decades. One of the concerns is that the presence of visitors causes stress in
zoo-animals, but studies have largely focused on primates. Here we investigate whether the
behaviour of harbour seals in a zoo is influenced by the number of visitors present around the
exhibit.
The behaviour of a group of 8 harbour seals (4 males, 4 females), housed at Antwerp Zoo, Belgium
was followed during six weeks. We conducted three observation bouts of each 10 minutes per day,
totaling 61 samples or 30, 5 observation hours. Every thirty seconds, we used instantaneous scan
sampling to count the number of visitors present alongside the pool (1 meter above water level), and
the number of seals engaging in each of the following behavioural categories: swimming
underwater; resting on land; swimming; visually scanning the environment; engaging in social
behaviour (such as play or aggression). For the analyses, visitor numbers were grouped in 5
categories: no visitors present (apart from the observer); 1-10; 11-20; 21-30; 31-40. We analysed
data by Kruskal Wallis ANOVA, with post hoc Mann Whitney U tests.
Statistical analyses showed significant effects of visitor numbers on all behaviours scored (p