Psychology and Animal Welfare
We believe that zoos with scientific credibility can be trusted to do the right thing on behalf of the animals. To keep management on the empirical side, evidence-based managers, scientific staff, and outside collaborators should be at the table when impo
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Psychology and Animal Welfare
It is hardly an exaggeration to say that a chimpanzee kept in solitude is not a real chimpanzee at all. That certain special characteristic qualities of this species of animal only appear when they are in a group, is simply because the behavior of his comrades constitutes for each individual the only adequate incentive for bringing about a great variety of essential forms of behavior. Wolfgang Kohler
By now the reader is aware of the core values and professional biases of the authors of this book. We are academic psychologists with fundamental training in animal behavior, behavior analysis, comparative cognition, and environmental psychology. Although we have collaborated to study a diversity of mammalian species, our primary expertise is derived from studies of nonhuman primates, especially the great apes. Our scientific network operates in both the academic and the zoo world. After decades of basic and applied research, we are convinced that zoo animal welfare cannot succeed without active collaboration with individual scientists and universities. In the senior author’s capacity as a non-profit executive, we have also had the responsibility of negotiating partnerships and affirming research relationships. We believe that zoos with scientific credibility can be trusted to do the right thing on behalf of the animals. Our confidence is sustained by our experience that managing animals is comprised of both scientific and intuitive elements that sometimes compete for dominance in the zoo. To keep management on the empirical side, evidence-based managers, scientific staff, and outside collaborators should be at the table when important decisions are made.
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Psychologists in the Zoo
Although the prolific Swiss zoo director Heini Hediger studied animal psychology, it is an unusual background for a zoo director. In his iconic book Man and Animal in the Zoo, Hediger revealed the extent that the field of psychology had influenced his T.L. Maple and B.M. Perdue, Zoo Animal Welfare, Animal Welfare, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35955-2_5, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
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thinking about wildlife in the zoo. Like Hediger, we have found graduate-level training in psychology to be extremely useful in all aspects of zoo work. Because a zoo is not just for animals, the traditional scope of psychology provides perspective on both animal and human behavior. Indeed, Hediger recognized that the principle challenge for the captive animal is its relationship to humankind, and he made this a specialized topic within the interdisciplinary field of zoo biology. It can also be said that wildlife conservation has as much to do with people as it does with animals. While poachers and exploiters put animals at risk, dedicated conservationists work with local people to intervene and protect wildlife. An understanding of human attitudes and human values will help us solve conservation and welfare problems. An entirely new generation of ethologists and comparative psych
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