Enriquecimento ambiental como ferramenta para a promoção de bem-estar em Panthera onca (Linnaeus, 1758), em cativeiro

Abstract

It is known nowadays how important is the keeping and care of wild animals in captivity, whether for the purposes of genetic bank of numerous species or for environmental education. This confinement, however, due to the recurrent lack of stimuli ends up causing stress to the animal, which starts to present atypical behaviors for the species, such as stereotypies, and may even develop health problems. A viable solution to this problem is the application of environmental enrichment techniques, which act as a tool for the reduction of stress and greater manifestation of natural behaviors. Such practices consist in introducing external stimuli to the animal's daily life, be they physical, alimentary, sensorial, social or cognitive. This study aimed to analyze the behavioral changes in a couple of adult jaguars kept in captivity, prior to application, during and after the removal of different techniques of physical, alimentary and sensorial enrichment. The analyzes lasted for 20 hours per phase and 4 hours after 4 days of total withdrawal of the stimuli, totaling 64 hours. The application of these techniques considerably reduced the time spent with abnormal behaviors, and the two stimuli with which the animals most interacted were the physical and the feeding stimuli. The withdrawal of the stimuli implied the return of stereotyped behaviors, emphasizing the importance of maintaining constant practices of environmental enrichment in zoos for the promotion of animal welfare.