Due to the expansion of the human population we are an increasing threat to all wild animals. They are driven to exist in smaller areas and in the worst case scenario extinction. Zoos are being encouraged to improve the animal’s physical and social surroundings. Environmental enrichment is a term used for such improvements. In this behavioural study, the enrichment introduced to two Pallas cats (Felis manul) at Parken Zoo in Eskilstuna, Sweden, consisted of a fishing rod and a clothes peg with a dead mouse or chick attached. The intention was to see if the feeding enrichment could increase activity levels and how the cats were using their enclosure. The enclosure was divided into seven zones which have a varying degree of opportunities for the animals to climb, hide and rest above ground level. The environmental enrichment effects on the Pallas cats´ behaviour, activity levels and use of the enclosure were measured and recorded using instantaneous scan sampling, and the mean value was calculated for each individual. The behavioural and enclosure results proved that enrichment benefits the cats activity levels. The behaviours that showed a variation when presented with enrichment were: walking, climbing, grooming, aggressive behaviour, out of sight behaviour, crouching position, sitting and standing still.  The results showed that the cats preferred the zones in the enclosure that offered a larger view of the nearby enclosures. This study shows that providing captive felids with inexpensive, easy to administer enrichment objects can have profound effects on activity behaviours and their enclosure.

Environmental enrichment (EE) is used to improve the wellbeing of animals in human care. One way of testing what resources an animal prefers to have access to, is to make it pay a price. The price is in the form of time or energy spent to get access to the resource. When measuring the motivation of animals it is useful to compare the resource which is to be evaluated to a resource with a known value. Food is often the comparator. The maximum price paid approach measures the highest price an animal is willing to pay for access to a resource. In this study the motivation of a grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) for getting access to artificial kelp and live fish was measured. Food was used as the comparator. A large net cage with a weighted entrance and a nonweighted exit gate was used as the test arena. The seal had to enter it by opening the entrance gate which had increasing weights every day, in 10 steps up to 65 kg. The seal was not willing to pay any price for the live fish. The maximum price paid for the food was 60kg, and for the artificial kelp 10kg, i.e. 17% of the maximum price paid for food. The results suggest that neither live fish nor artificial kelp was an attractive EE for this seal. However, the study also shows that spring (reproductive period) is not a good time to test motivation in grey seals.

<p>Environmental enrichment (EE) is used to improve the wellbeing of animals in human care. One way of testing what resources an animal prefers to have access to, is to make it pay a price. The price is in the form of time or energy spent to get access to the resource. When measuring the motivation of animals it is useful to compare the resource which is to be evaluated to a resource with a known value. Food is often the comparator. The maximum price paid approach measures the highest price an animal is willing to pay for access to a</p><p>resource. In this study the motivation of a grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) for getting access to artificial kelp and live fish was measured. Food was used as the comparator. A large net cage with a weighted entrance and a nonweighted exit gate was used as the test arena. The seal had to enter it by opening the entrance gate which had increasing weights every day, in 10 steps up to 65 kg. The seal was not willing to pay any price for the live fish. The maximum price paid for the food was 60kg, and for the artificial kelp 10kg, i.e. 17% of the maximum price paid for food. The results suggest that neither</p><p>live fish nor artificial kelp was an attractive EE for this seal. However, the study also shows that spring (reproductive period) is not a good time to test motivation in grey seals.</p>

This study investigated the relationship between flood duration of beaver ponds in eastern Ontario and their productivity for waterfowl. The primary objective was to assess the effect of removing water from a beaver pond for one year had on the subsequent productivity of the wetland. Productivity was estimated by sampling water chemistry, standing crops of aquatic invertebrates, vertebrates, algae and vegetation composition and distribution in naturally occurring and managed beaver ponds of varying ages during 1994 and 1995. Three ponds in each of the following categories were sampled; managed ponds reflooded in 1993, managed ponds reflooded in 1991, naturally occurring beaver ponds reflooded in 1992-93, and naturally occurring old flood ponds ($>$5 years old). / Results from this study indicate that beaver pond productivity is negatively affected by flooding duration. Removal of a portion of the beaver dam on old flood ponds may be an effective means of rejuvenating the wetland. Positive effects on the productivity of the wetland should be realized for several years after reflood. Variability in results indicates that other environmental variables were also affecting the overall productivity of beaver ponds. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

C-type Natriuretic Peptide (CNP), a relatively new member of the natriuretic peptide family, is found throughout the central nervous system. Circumstantial evidence associates CNP with learning and memory, as its expression is highest in brain regions known to be involved in memory and associated with hippocampal physiology. Here, the first study housed rats in an enriched environment, regarded as providing an 'informal' learning experience, for either 14 or 28 days of housing in enrichment in six regions of interest, which was attributed to changes in the degradation of CNP. The second study examined a group of rats trained on object -recognition task – the bow-tie maze. A difference was found in CNP production in the limbic medial prefrontal cortex over repeated exposures to novel objects relative to controls that received 'yoked learning' an exposure only to the test room. CNP concentrations also tended to be lower in rats with better levels of discrimination between familiar objects. Together, these studies provide some initial evidence that CNP influences learning –induced plasticity in the intact brain.

Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 66 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references.

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