Acknowledgements Special thanks to the staff at Avesta

Acknowledgements Special thanks to the staff at Avesta Visentpark, Borås Zoo, Lycksele Zoo, Skansen, Skåne Zoo and Kolmården Zoo. I would also like to thank my supervisor Mats Amundin and fellow student Annika Hofling Contact information erigo 258@gmail. com http: //cms. ifm. liu. se/edu/biology/master_p rojects/2009/presentation-of-masterth/student-web-presentations/godoy-erika/ Effects of enclosure design and enrichment on the daily activity of European bison (Bison bonasus) Erika Godoy Final thesis. International Master Programme Applied Ethology and Animal Biology 2009

Background The knowledge of how the environment affect animals in captivity is of importance, especially if those animals are to be used to supplement the wild population. Results * * * Activity budgets can be used to asses the influence of the captive environment on the amount of natural or “species-specific” behaviours. The Aim of this study was to asses how two different environments influenced the activity budget of captive European bison. Further, to see if the response to foraging enrichment differed between the different environments. * * Mean (+SE) amount of time (%) performing selected behaviours in each enclosure type *p<o. o 1 80 Barren enclosure Environmental enrichment is a term that describes a variety of environmental modifications and is frequently used to improve animal welfare where e. g. foraging enrichments can reduce passivity/inactivity. Conclusions & Implications * Before After 60 40 * * 20 0 Naturalistic enclosure, here at Lycksele Zoo Naturalistic enclosure 80 Feeding Inactive supl Active 60 40 20 * 0 Feeding supl Inactive Active Mean (+SE) amount of time (%) spent in selected behaviour categories before and after the addition of spread-out browse, *p<o. o 5 Barren enclosure, here at Borås Zoo The results show that the captive environment did influence the daily activity, where bisons in naturalistic enclosures had a higher activity level. The higher activity derived from the way bisons foraged. In the wild, bison movements are correlated mainly with feeding activity and to ensure optimum use of food supply. As the bisons in the naturalistic enclosures had pasture and those in barren enclosures were offered food in troughs or similar ways, i. e. in a way that did not stimulate movement or exploratory behaviour, a lower amount of activity in barren enclosures would be expected. However, the total time feeding did not differ between the enclosure types. Offering ad libitum access to hay in the barren enclosures appeared to fill the “free” time and thereby possibly satisfy the bisons’ natural, polyphasic feeding behaviour. The feeding enrichment had different effects in the different enclosure types. It had a larger effect in the barren enclosures where the time spent feeding from natural sources (feeding) increased and the amount of time spent resting and feeding on concentrates and hay (feeding supl) decreased. The results imply that this kind of feeding enrichment are effective to stimulate more natural behavioural patterns in a barren enclosure. They also show that only scattering food like browse in the enclosure can be enough to stimulate movement and increase the amount of time spent foraging.