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Tongue Twisters: Feeding Enrichment to Reduce Oral Stereotypy in Giraffe by Loraine Tarou Fernandez; Meredith J. Bashaw; Richard L. Sartor; Nichole R. Bouwens; Todd S. Maki is a Environmental Science article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Tongue Twisters: Feeding Enrichment to Reduce Oral Stereotypy in Giraffe about?

## Abstract Stereotypic behavior has been well‐studied and documented in a variety of animals including primates, carnivores, and domesticated ungulates. However, very little information is known about stereotypic behavior of captive exotic ungulates. Giraffe have been found to perform a wide range of stereotypic behaviors. According to a survey of zoological institutions, oral stereotypies, specifically the licking of nonfood objects are the most prevalent stereotypic behaviors observed in giraffe. Their performance appears to be related to feeding and rumination and may be a result of the inability of a highly motivated feeding behavior pattern, tongue manipulation, to be successfully completed. To test this hypothesis, the indoor and outdoor feeders for three giraffe housed at Zoo Atlanta were modified to require the giraffe to perform more naturalistic and complex foraging behaviors. Data were collected using instantaneous scan sampling in both exhibit and holding areas. Our results showed that, for the giraffe that engaged in the highest rates of oral stereotypic behavior in the baseline, more complex feeders that required tongue use to access grain or alfalfa had the greatest

Who reads Tongue Twisters: Feeding Enrichment to Reduce Oral Stereotypy in Giraffe?

Author

Loraine Tarou Fernandez; Meredith J. Bashaw; Richard L. Sartor; Nichole R. Bouwens; Todd S. Maki

Publisher

John Wiley and Sons; Wiley (John Wiley & Sons); John Wiley & Sons Inc.; Wiley (ISSN 0733-3188)

Published

2008

Language

EN

Field

Environmental Science (Life Sciences)