Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo
Modern herpetoculture has seen a rise in welfare-related habitat modifications, although ethologically-informed enclosure design and evidence-based husbandry are lacking. The diversity that exists within snakes complicates standardizing snake welfare assessment tools and evaluation techniques. Utili...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-02-01
|
| Series: | Animals |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/3/373 |
| _version_ | 1797489475057614848 |
|---|---|
| author | Lauren Augustine Eli Baskir Corinne P. Kozlowski Stephen Hammack Justin Elden Mark D. Wanner Ashley D. Franklin David M. Powell |
| author_facet | Lauren Augustine Eli Baskir Corinne P. Kozlowski Stephen Hammack Justin Elden Mark D. Wanner Ashley D. Franklin David M. Powell |
| author_sort | Lauren Augustine |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Modern herpetoculture has seen a rise in welfare-related habitat modifications, although ethologically-informed enclosure design and evidence-based husbandry are lacking. The diversity that exists within snakes complicates standardizing snake welfare assessment tools and evaluation techniques. Utilizing behavioral indicators in conjunction with physiological measures, such as fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations, could aid in the validation of evidence-based metrics for evaluating snake welfare. We increased habitat cleaning, to identify behavioral or physiological indicators that might indicate heightened arousal in snakes as a response to the disturbance. While glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations increased significantly during a period of increased disturbance, this increase was not associated with a significant increase in tongue-flicking, a behavior previously associated with arousal in snakes. Locomotion behavior and the proportion of time spent exposed were also not affected by more frequent habitat cleaning. These results demonstrate the need to further investigate the behavioral and physiological responses of snakes to different aspects of animal care at a species and individual level. They also highlight the need to collect baseline behavioral and physiological data for animals, in order to make meaningful comparisons when evaluating changes in animal care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:18:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-91dc77cfcbce441e9b255fb6e7f0cf02 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:18:06Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-91dc77cfcbce441e9b255fb6e7f0cf022023-11-23T15:48:45ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152022-02-0112337310.3390/ani12030373Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis ZooLauren Augustine0Eli Baskir1Corinne P. Kozlowski2Stephen Hammack3Justin Elden4Mark D. Wanner5Ashley D. Franklin6David M. Powell7Saint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USASaint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USASaint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USASaint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USASaint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USASaint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USASaint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USASaint Louis Zoo, 1 Government Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63116, USAModern herpetoculture has seen a rise in welfare-related habitat modifications, although ethologically-informed enclosure design and evidence-based husbandry are lacking. The diversity that exists within snakes complicates standardizing snake welfare assessment tools and evaluation techniques. Utilizing behavioral indicators in conjunction with physiological measures, such as fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations, could aid in the validation of evidence-based metrics for evaluating snake welfare. We increased habitat cleaning, to identify behavioral or physiological indicators that might indicate heightened arousal in snakes as a response to the disturbance. While glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations increased significantly during a period of increased disturbance, this increase was not associated with a significant increase in tongue-flicking, a behavior previously associated with arousal in snakes. Locomotion behavior and the proportion of time spent exposed were also not affected by more frequent habitat cleaning. These results demonstrate the need to further investigate the behavioral and physiological responses of snakes to different aspects of animal care at a species and individual level. They also highlight the need to collect baseline behavioral and physiological data for animals, in order to make meaningful comparisons when evaluating changes in animal care.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/3/373herpetoculturetongue flickingfecal glucocorticoid metabolitesanimal carehusbandryreptiles |
| spellingShingle | Lauren Augustine Eli Baskir Corinne P. Kozlowski Stephen Hammack Justin Elden Mark D. Wanner Ashley D. Franklin David M. Powell Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo Animals herpetoculture tongue flicking fecal glucocorticoid metabolites animal care husbandry reptiles |
| title | Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo |
| title_full | Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo |
| title_fullStr | Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo |
| title_full_unstemmed | Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo |
| title_short | Investigating Welfare Metrics for Snakes at the Saint Louis Zoo |
| title_sort | investigating welfare metrics for snakes at the saint louis zoo |
| topic | herpetoculture tongue flicking fecal glucocorticoid metabolites animal care husbandry reptiles |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/3/373 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT laurenaugustine investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo AT elibaskir investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo AT corinnepkozlowski investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo AT stephenhammack investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo AT justinelden investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo AT markdwanner investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo AT ashleydfranklin investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo AT davidmpowell investigatingwelfaremetricsforsnakesatthesaintlouiszoo |