Browsing by Author "Myllylä, Heidi"

Korkeasaari Zoo has several large ruminants adapted to distinct climates and habitats. It is well known, that ensuring the possibility of the animals to live in captivity, that resemble their natural habitat, is important for their welfare. However, thermal environment of zoo-housed animals is not often studied, even though it can have major impact on animal welfare. Especially for cold-adapted species the shade availability during hot, sunny days is essential and therefore needs high attention. In my thesis, I monitored the shade use and behaviour of musk ox (Ovibos moschatus), yak (Bos grunniens), takin (Budorcas taxicolor), wisent (Bison bonasus), Przewalski’s wild horse (Equus przewalskii) and kulan (Equus hemionus kulan) in their enclosures in Korkeasaari zoo by using ZooMonitor application. Species were chosen by their different level of warm adaption for comparison. I found out the shade availability in each enclosure during different times of the day with aerial photographs. The purpose was to find out if there is a need to enhance the shaded areas to ensure animal welfare. Research questions were 1) How much shade is available in each enclosure? 2) Is shade use dependent on a) temperature b) time of the day? 3) Are less warm adapted species (musk ox, yak, takin) seeking shade more obviously than more warm adapted species (wisent, kulan, wild horse)? To analyse, behavioural space use data was assessed in the form of a heat map with aerial photographs to evaluate location preferences for each animal in each enclosure. Behaviour Budget reports were used to display the percent of time engaged in behaviours. In conclusion, musk ox has shade in their enclosure 43% in the morning, 18% in the noon and 36% in the afternoon. Its shade use is dependent on time. Yak, kulan and wild horse has shade 33% in the morning, 18% in the noon and 21% in the afternoon. Shade use of yak and kulan is dependent on temperature. Shade use of wild horse is dependent on time. Takin has shade 93% in the morning, 73% in the noon and 77% in the afternoon. Its shade use is dependent on temperature and time. Wisent has shade 57% in the morning, 43% in the noon and 14% in the afternoon. Its shade use is dependent on time. Less warm adapted species are seeking shade more frequently than more warm adapted species, but surprisingly kulan stronger than wisent and almost equally as yak. Combined, shaded areas are important for zoo-housed animals to thermoregulate. The least warm adapted musk ox needs more shaded areas as they are scarce in their enclosure. Providing more shaded areas increases the space available for the animals.