Avaliação do comportamento de onça-parda (Puma Concolor) e Tuiuiú (Jabiru Mycteria) sob condições de cativeiro

Abstract

The increase in the number of zoos and also the number of species in captivity has intensified the need for animal welfare standards, as well as to consider the fact that each species comes from a different location and therefore needs individual care in the ex-situ environment, such as captivity. Given this context, this work evaluated the behavior of Puma (Puma concolor) and Tuiuiú (Jabiru mycteria) in captivity conditions at the Sabiá Park Zoo in the city of Uberlândia, state of Minas Gerais, as well as the characterization of visitors and their influence on these animals' behaviors. For this purpose, one animal of each species was used, a female puma, approximately two years and five months old, fed exclusively on meat, and a male tuiuiú, with an undetermined age, fed with different types of protein, such as mice, chicks and with the opportunity to catch the fish that share the enclosure in the lagoon, in addition to fruits, offered daily. Different behavioral categories were evaluated for the two species using a total of 18 hours of observation for each species, carried out in the morning and afternoon periods of the day, separated into a period of 12 hours of observation without public visitation and a period of 6 hours with public visitation. This data collection was carried out in 10-minute observation sessions with a 5-minute break, using the focal animal method. The quantification of visitors into adults and children. The results obtained during the analysis period identified 130 visitors in total, 56.92% adults and 43.07% children. For the periods of the day, it was observed that in the morning, 53.66% of the visitors were children, while in the afternoon 25% were children, prevailing the adult public in this period of the day. For the species Jabiru mycteria, the frequency of "locomotion" which was obtained, can be considered low in the total period evaluated. The behavioral category "others" was the one that was most expressed by the animal throughout the data collection period, with the behavior "scraping the tip of the beak on the grid" being the most performed in both evaluation periods, with and without public visitation, totaling 31.25% (8/29) of the total behaviors without public visitation and 27.59% (15/48) of the category others in the evaluation period with public visitation. For the species Puma concolor, it presented 20.69% of the total behaviors presented in the morning without public visitation and 7.69% of the total behaviors presented in the afternoon. No interaction with the environmental enrichment on the day with public visitation was observed. During the public visitation the animal remained in the camping for longer time compared to the pacing steriotyped behavior. It is concluded that it is of paramount importance to institute environmental education policies/programs at the Municipal Zoo of Uberlândia, as well as to develop research aimed at elucidating the expression of behaviors linked to poor welfare, in order to promote effective measures ensuring the welfare of wild animals in captivity conditions.