Respostas comportamentais de Araras Canindé (Ara ararauna) em manejo ex situ frente a aplicação de diferentes tipos de enriquecimento ambiental

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the influence of environmental enrichment on the behavior of the Canindé macaws (Ara ararauna), kept in captivity, evaluating the types of environmental enrichment with the frequency of expressed behaviors. The present study was realized in the São Francisco Zoo, situated in Canindé - Ceará, where five macaws (Ara ararauna) were used, all of them identified by rings. For the observations of the stages the scanning sampling methodology was used in which the behavior of the animals was registered every 5 minutes during one hour in alternate periods, morning or afternoon. For the preparation of the ethogram, the ad libitum method was used to identify the main behaviors of the macaws. After the confection of the ethogram, the stages of the experimental test began. The experimental period was from August 2 to October 1. The experimental trial was divided into 3 parts: pre-enrichment, enrichment and post-enrichment. For the enrichments recyclable materials were used, such as egg cartons, coconut with seeds, making the artifacts for the cognitive and physical enrichments. For the sensorial enrichment a sound box was used, in which instrumental music was played, like classical and nature sounds. The enrichments were introduced during 5 days, from Monday to Friday, with a 2-day interval for the introduction of the other enrichment. The first enrichment applied after the pre-enrichment was the cognitive food, followed by sensory enrichment, ending with the physical enrichment. The data were tabulated and analyzed by the statistical program R, in which the statistical analysis was applied odds ratio, which is the ratio of evidence that measures the proportion of a certain event can change or not between two groups, which is calculated the chance of an event happening or not based on a control group. Fisher's test was also used to check if behavioral categories were significant with p (>0.05) or 5% significance level comparing with postenrichment. The behavioral categories most present in the study were the inactivity and feeding, in which there was a significant effect in the stages, with a reduction in inactivity and an increase in the chances of the animals feeding, vocalization also had a significant effect in this study, in which it was significant in enrichment 1 and 2 and in post-enrichment. Locomotion had no significant effect along the experiment, while stereotypy had little variation along the phases, with no significant effect. In the end, we conclude that environmental enrichment proved to be an efficient tool, providing challenges and new stimuli in the captive environment in which there was reduced inactivity and an increase in feeding, providing an improvement in the welfare and health of the birds through the effects of enrichment.