ORANGUTAN BEHAVIOUR IN CAPTIVITY ACTIVITY BUDGETS, ENCLOSURE USE THE VISITOR EFFECT

ORA NGUT AN B E H A VI OUR IN C APTIVIT Y: A C T I V I T Y B U D G E TS, E N C L OSU R E USE A N D T H E V ISI T O R E F F E C T C H O O YUAN TING B.Sc (Hons.), NU S A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2011 A C K N O W L E D G E M E N TS Just as I was thinking that my affair with the hairy creatures would never end, I finally found myself having to bid them farewell The following thanks are kept brief, as no words adequately express the relationships between people I had fun and much chance to grow during my research, and to everyone listed here, I hope I have made just a bit of difference in your life as well As with any routine done regularly over time, one starts to develop what I call specialized quirks Some people call them occupational hazards Being in the unique situation of watching apes in a zoo setting, where I have both hairy as well as hairless ones to watch, I cannot help but draw comparisons between the two During the first few months of watching orangutans, I started seeing orangutans everywhere I went The way my dad sat with his leg up on the sofa looked like an orangutan The way a stranger on the street scratched himself reminded me of a certain old orangutan in the zoo The crowning touch came one day when after exiting the zoo washroom, I passed through a crowded restaurant on the way back to the orangutan exhibit To my horror/amazement, I saw Bento, one of the year old (orangutans) rolling around on the floor! How on earth did he get out, and there he was, frolicking in the midst of humans! I was stunned But on taking a second look, I realized that it was actually a very tanned human child in an orange singlet, rolling around on the floor That incident proved really hilarious, even to myself Other humouURXVµVLGHHIIHFWV¶RIZRUNLQJLQWKH]RRIRUH[WHQGHGSHULRGs of time include hearing the zoo show jingle, IRUVRPHUHDVRQZKHQ,¶Pin the toilet And once, I thought I heard the mating/territorial call of a mature male orangutan in my house I wondered: Why is Charlie long-calling in my house?? The following thesis is a summary and analysis of my past months with these apes They have brought me only fun, laughter and constant opportunities to self-introspect On the other hand, the heartache and sweat came solely from the efforts of this human, to want to watch them in order to write a long report that humans call a thesis For all of this, I am grateful, and would like to thank the following people ii   Dr Li, my ever present source of advice and support Thank you for taking in the young and inexperienced girl back then, and nurturing her into the competent, confident researcher she is today Dr Todd, my grammar master Always ready to pick up where I have left off, and pushing me that extra step to a better job Thank you Of course, with any captive animals, come their ever faithful keepers Jack, Kumaran, Gabriel, Prakash, Md Noor, Arshad and Marzuki I sincerely thank you for all you have taught me and I hope your lives have been at least somewhat enriched, E\WKHJLUOZKRLVµDOZD\VORRNLQJXSLQ WKHVN\¶7R&KDUOHQH6DPDQG-RKQ7KDQN\RXIRUDOOWKHVXSSRrt and advice you have given me, I have really enjoyed knowing you! Eunice I felt that choosing to go on with Masters, rather than working after my B.Sc, was made in part worthwhile because I got to know you ^^ My labmates ± with them, I understand why humans are truly social creatures Even the intensely focused task of analyzing data or writing a thesis reTXLUHVFRPSDQ\VRPHWLPHVDQGZKR¶V company better to revel in, than those of my ever fun, ever game fellow researchers Thank you Huishan, Diego, Stanley, Junhao, Seok Ping, Shichang, Mindy, Joelyn, Ganison and my other Spider Lab colleagues who make me look forward to going to lab Giam, Dr Chan Yiong Huak, Kia Chong, Yangchen and Lainie Thank you for your invaluable statistical advice and comments on my project My father, who paces me both in life, and as a researcher He, who I must attribute much of who I am today to My family, always supportive, despite my regular crankiness Thank you And last but definitely not least, myself ,GLGLW[...]... situated next to main tracks in the zoo, and consisted a row of tall trees joined by vines, nets, logs, and platforms Some differences were present between the exhibits In the Island exhibit, visitors could only view the orangutans from the main road next to the trees, but in the Boardwalk exhibit, visitors could see the orangutans from both the main road and an elevated boardwalk in the exhibit This... Zoo) The enclosures are unique in several ways and these include possible effects on both orangutans and visitors The following are several examples First, the majority of orangutan enclosures worldwide have animals displayed in exhibits at the eye level of visitors, and climbing structures provided are often made of timber or inanimate materials Singapore Zoo orangutan exhibits are unique because orangutans... definitions for some visitor variables, and the study of visitor effects in isolation from other exhibit variables, all need to be addressed (Davey, 2007) Hence, the third objective of this study is to investigate the visitor effects on orangutans in two naturalistic, novel enclosures The study will include a relatively wide range of visitor variables, as well as investigate how visitor effects may interact with... animals showing more play and movement, and older animals idling and paying more attention to their surroundings Enclosure design and surrounding features also appeared to influence activity budgets Interestingly, activity budgets of this group were similar to that of other ]RRV¶ orangutans, and also wild orangutans, especially those in masting forests The findings of this study are discussed in relation... prominently in the historical records (AD 600 ± 1450) However, in the seventeenth century, they proliferated again A turning point came in 4   the eighteenth century when growth of European empires encouraged travel to distant places Enthused explorers returned from faraway lands, bringing with them an influx of exotic animals and stimulating a subsequent interest in natural history With the growing... 17   The other main difference between the enclosures was that visual stimulus from surrounding features was greater for orangutans in the Boardwalk exhibit than in the Island exhibit Features in the vicinity of both exhibits were generally closer to the Boardwalk exhibit (Fig 2.3) The latter was situated directly alongside a third orangutan enclosure and a busy restaurant On the other hand, the Island... interactions in such enclosures is still in its infancy (Davey, 2007; Ogden et al., 1990) Hence, the following work will focus on addressing existing gaps in zoo ecology Singapore Zoo Singapore Zoo, opened in 1973, is a local zoo under the management of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Set in tropical surroundings, the zoo spans 28 hectares and holds 315 animal species in its collection (website, Singapore... wild orangutan groups 22   R ESU L TS O verall activity budgets and activity budgets across age groups The overall activity budgets for each enclosure showed that most time was spent on idling (2831%), feeding (19-25%), and looking (17-25%) (Fig 2.4) The rest of the time was spread between moving, playing/socializing, interacting/looking at visitors (human) and regurgitating s Human Regurgitate 7% interaction... expelling bodily waste Look Orangutan is looking at an object/keeper/another orangutan in surroundings, face and eyes are oriented towards that location Move Orangutan is travelling from one location to another; can be brachiating, bi/quadrupedal walking, or any other form of locomotion Feed Orangutan is engaged in searching for, preparation of, or ingestion of food Play/Social Orangutan is engaged in. .. of the species, including the orangutans, Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii In 2006, Singapore Zoo introduced two µIUHH-UDQJLQJ¶HQFORVXUHVIRULWVRUDQJXWDQV2IGLIIHUHQW design from the older island-style exhibit, these enclosures each comprise a row of tall trees, joined by artificial vines, nets, platforms and logs Using trees which were originally situated next to main visitor tracks, the orangutan ... Results 82 Effect of visitors on orangutan behaviour in the Boardwalk exhibit 83 Effect of visitors on orangutan behaviour in the Island exhibit 83 Discussion 87 Effects of visitor number 87 Effects... captive orangutans, little is known about their activity budgets, enclosure use and how zoo visitors affect them Hence, more knowledge is required to maintain the welfare of these intelligent apes In. .. Zoo, the presence of two naturalistic orangutan exhibits provides the chance to study the behaviour of this ape in such enclosures Hence, the activity budgets, enclosure use, and visitor effects