Captive environments often fail to resemble the wild environment in respects of limited space, unchanging habitat, lack of stimulus and contingency. Common animal welfare problems which occur in captive animals includ...Captive environments often fail to resemble the wild environment in respects of limited space, unchanging habitat, lack of stimulus and contingency. Common animal welfare problems which occur in captive animals include low behavioral diversity, abnormal behavior and excessive inactivity. Environmental enrichment, as an effective strategy to tackle these problems and promote mental health of captive animals, has been recognized as an important principal for captive animal management. Among all the enriehment techniques, olfactory enrichment is a simple and effective method for improving the well-being of the olfactory sensitive felids. Behavioral problems were observed in six Amur leopards Panthera pardus orientalis at Beijing Zoological Garden. These were held in the older type exhibits which have now been rebuilt. These behaviors include stereotypic behavior and excessive inactivity caused by the spatially limited enclosures with low levels of stimuli. To determine the effects of predator, prey, and herb odors as potential enrichment materials for captive leopards, we conducted olfactory enrichment experiments for the leopards and tested the effects of nutmeg Myristica fragrans, feces of roe deer Capreolus capreolus and urine of Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica to test for an increase in behavioral repertoire and activity. Odors provided in this study were also believed to improve the psychological and physiological health of individuals. To standardize the method of presentation the odors were introduced to the enclosures by rubbing or spraying onto a clean towel. Our results show that the selected three odors effectively increased the behavioral diversity. Ten new behavior types were observed in the nutmeg experiment, eight in the feces of roe deer experiment and six in the tiger urine experiment. Among the three odors, cats responded to nutmeg for the longest duration, followed by tiger urine and feces of roe deer. Leopards showed more play behavior in presence of nutmeg while more investigatory behavior in presences of feces of roe deer and tiger urine. Providing novel odors increased the spatial use of the exhibit and the animal＇ s increased use of the logs, sleeping platforms and bars in the cages. Novel odors also significantly increased the overall activity of the leopards, but the effects were diminished in about three hours.展开更多
With the cultural myth that science can only determine the way the world ＂is＂ （facts）, while humanities, social sciences, lawyers, philosophers, and theologians must determine the way the world ＂ought to be＂ （v...With the cultural myth that science can only determine the way the world ＂is＂ （facts）, while humanities, social sciences, lawyers, philosophers, and theologians must determine the way the world ＂ought to be＂ （values）, those in position of global-, national-, and local-political power make major decisions of the use （or non-use） of scientific knowledge and technology. As a result, the human being has created a non-scientifically based cultural environment that is affecting his ability to survive. In effect, cultural evolution is occurring more rapidly than biological evolution that can adapt to the changes brought about in the physical and psycho-social environments. In a pluralistic cultural world, where each society has generated a different view of human nature and different ethical values, the use, misuse, or non-use of scientific and technological advances are derived from these unscientific views of human nature. Since all life depends on limiting interacting environmental and ecological factors, it is imperative that scientific information be used to govern how to minimize irreversible effects on life-sustaining ecological factors, but also scientific information bearing on understanding human nature ought to be integrated into a ＂global bioethics＂. While ethical values cannot be directly derived from scientific factors, it is also true that human values or our ＂ought＂ cannot be maintained in ignorance or defiance of the facts or the ＂is＂.展开更多
基金founded by the Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CXTDS2005-4)the Natural Scientific Foundation of China (No.30230080,No.30670267)
文摘Captive environments often fail to resemble the wild environment in respects of limited space, unchanging habitat, lack of stimulus and contingency. Common animal welfare problems which occur in captive animals include low behavioral diversity, abnormal behavior and excessive inactivity. Environmental enrichment, as an effective strategy to tackle these problems and promote mental health of captive animals, has been recognized as an important principal for captive animal management. Among all the enriehment techniques, olfactory enrichment is a simple and effective method for improving the well-being of the olfactory sensitive felids. Behavioral problems were observed in six Amur leopards Panthera pardus orientalis at Beijing Zoological Garden. These were held in the older type exhibits which have now been rebuilt. These behaviors include stereotypic behavior and excessive inactivity caused by the spatially limited enclosures with low levels of stimuli. To determine the effects of predator, prey, and herb odors as potential enrichment materials for captive leopards, we conducted olfactory enrichment experiments for the leopards and tested the effects of nutmeg Myristica fragrans, feces of roe deer Capreolus capreolus and urine of Amur tiger Panthera tigris altaica to test for an increase in behavioral repertoire and activity. Odors provided in this study were also believed to improve the psychological and physiological health of individuals. To standardize the method of presentation the odors were introduced to the enclosures by rubbing or spraying onto a clean towel. Our results show that the selected three odors effectively increased the behavioral diversity. Ten new behavior types were observed in the nutmeg experiment, eight in the feces of roe deer experiment and six in the tiger urine experiment. Among the three odors, cats responded to nutmeg for the longest duration, followed by tiger urine and feces of roe deer. Leopards showed more play behavior in presence of nutmeg while more investigatory behavior in presences of feces of roe deer and tiger urine. Providing novel odors increased the spatial use of the exhibit and the animal＇ s increased use of the logs, sleeping platforms and bars in the cages. Novel odors also significantly increased the overall activity of the leopards, but the effects were diminished in about three hours.
文摘With the cultural myth that science can only determine the way the world ＂is＂ （facts）, while humanities, social sciences, lawyers, philosophers, and theologians must determine the way the world ＂ought to be＂ （values）, those in position of global-, national-, and local-political power make major decisions of the use （or non-use） of scientific knowledge and technology. As a result, the human being has created a non-scientifically based cultural environment that is affecting his ability to survive. In effect, cultural evolution is occurring more rapidly than biological evolution that can adapt to the changes brought about in the physical and psycho-social environments. In a pluralistic cultural world, where each society has generated a different view of human nature and different ethical values, the use, misuse, or non-use of scientific and technological advances are derived from these unscientific views of human nature. Since all life depends on limiting interacting environmental and ecological factors, it is imperative that scientific information be used to govern how to minimize irreversible effects on life-sustaining ecological factors, but also scientific information bearing on understanding human nature ought to be integrated into a ＂global bioethics＂. While ethical values cannot be directly derived from scientific factors, it is also true that human values or our ＂ought＂ cannot be maintained in ignorance or defiance of the facts or the ＂is＂.
