Thesis--University of Pennsylvania. / Bibliography: p. 61-67.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1962. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-93).

Diss. : Theologie : Erlangen-Nürnberg : 1968. - Bibliogr. p. 223-232. Index. -

The search for mechanisms that can generate major morphological changes has led to the study of ontogeny, in part because some kinds of modifications of ontogenies seem an excelent way to generate major phenotypic change. We focus here on Arctocephlaus australis, Callorhinus ursinus and Otaria byronia with the aim of contributing to the understanding of the origin, structure and temporal patterns of otarid morphological diversity. The pattern of change in shape during postnatal development in otarid skull was studied and described by geometric and traditional morphometrics. Our aims are: to compare the skull ontogeny of the species invocated in identifying and in describing shape alterations in the skull; to evaluate and to describe comparatively the sexual dimorphism and disparity during the ontogeny; to study the covariance between size and shape in relationship with age-groups; to investigate the changes in the ontogeny and their relationships with the evolution of the Otariidae Family; to analyze the conservation of ontogenetic trajectories over time, between sexes and among species; to characterize growth trajectories and to compare them among taxa with respect to isometry; to describe the parameters of growth and development of the focused species and to compare the two different approaches employed. Using traditional morphometrics, the allometry vectors for all species were significantly different from isometry. Dimorphism in the allometric vector is observed only in O. byonia and the difference between males and females of the fur seals are related with adult body size. The comparisons species/sex groups revealed similar vectors (any significant shape disassociation are verified in the inter-specific analyzes), suggesting lower plasticity of the ontogenies. Using geometrical methods, the dimorphism is more conspicuous in adult shapes but this is not true for the level of disparity between sexes of O. byronia. Although that dimorphism is linked with size this is not only a question of scaling or allometry (which is present in the morphogenesis of all species, especially in O. byronia). Additionally, the slopes of changes in shape related with size increase are different in A. australis and O. byronia, but are equal in C. ursinus, which is the smaller species. We suggest post-displacement as one of the factors that could have acted in the origin of the sexual dimorphism in the skull of C. ursinus. Heterochrony, perhaps is present in the roots of the modifications suffered by the ontogeny of A. australis and O. byronia too, considering the differences in the rates of development between the sexes of both species (and overall in O. byronia), but surely repatterning allometric is involved too in these cases. We verified that ontogenies can not be summarized by a single linear vector in any analyzed group, where C. ursinus ontogeny is the more linear and O. byronia the more multi-dimensional species among the 3 that we had examined. Shape changes in the otarids studied here are more related with size than with age and any of the species share a common growth allometry or a common ontogenetic trajectory/pattern. In the same way, shapes at onset or offset are not the same in any case. When the three species are pooled together, initial shapes are always very different among the species and the distances between shapes increase with time almost independently from size. On the other hand, when the complete samples are considered, all the ontogenetic trajectories are significantly different in the directions of the allometric vectors during ontogeny. Ontogenetic trajectories differ significantly among almost all the pairs compared, except for the trajectories of A. australis and C. ursinus males. They are no more different than expected by chance considering the range of angles within each sample. A similar pattern is found when the subadults are compared between pairs of species and when we compare adult males of A. australis with adult males of O. byronia. The juveniles are no more different than expected by chance (correlation between ontogenies in that phase is equal to one), excepti between C. ursinus and O. byronia. The ontogenetic trajectory of C. ursinus is the shorter and of O. byronia is the longer being almost three times longer than the former. A. australis has an intermediary length of ontogenetic trajectory. For the sample comprising all three species disparity increase significantly over ontogeny since the disparity of the adults is near the two times of the disparity between juveniles. For any ontogenetic stage, O. byronia is the species that contributes for the disparity of the all group, followed by C. ursinus. When we consider the three species together, the pattern of disparity do not change a lot during ontogeny. Ontogenies examined herein are clearly not constrained and perhaps the differences in patterns have additive effects in the differentiation of the ontogenies. Whether ontogenetic trajectories are linear or curve could be a function of developmental timing or more specifically it could depend on the age at which allometries stabilize in post-natal ontogenies. Otherwise, the amount of differences between species in the ontogenies is in agreement with the phylogenetic relationships. Finally, we addressed basically the following questions: Is onset time the same in the species? Is offset time the same in these species? Does growth rate differ between the species. The answer to those questions could be summarized by the conclusion. but we conclude that the changes in otarids skull ontogenies had occurred in spatial and temporal terms.

The search for mechanisms that can generate major morphological changes has led to the study of ontogeny, in part because some kinds of modifications of ontogenies seem an excelent way to generate major phenotypic change. We focus here on Arctocephlaus australis, Callorhinus ursinus and Otaria byronia with the aim of contributing to the understanding of the origin, structure and temporal patterns of otarid morphological diversity. The pattern of change in shape during postnatal development in otarid skull was studied and described by geometric and traditional morphometrics. Our aims are: to compare the skull ontogeny of the species invocated in identifying and in describing shape alterations in the skull; to evaluate and to describe comparatively the sexual dimorphism and disparity during the ontogeny; to study the covariance between size and shape in relationship with age-groups; to investigate the changes in the ontogeny and their relationships with the evolution of the Otariidae Family; to analyze the conservation of ontogenetic trajectories over time, between sexes and among species; to characterize growth trajectories and to compare them among taxa with respect to isometry; to describe the parameters of growth and development of the focused species and to compare the two different approaches employed. Using traditional morphometrics, the allometry vectors for all species were significantly different from isometry. Dimorphism in the allometric vector is observed only in O. byonia and the difference between males and females of the fur seals are related with adult body size. The comparisons species/sex groups revealed similar vectors (any significant shape disassociation are verified in the inter-specific analyzes), suggesting lower plasticity of the ontogenies. Using geometrical methods, the dimorphism is more conspicuous in adult shapes but this is not true for the level of disparity between sexes of O. byronia. Although that dimorphism is linked with size this is not only a question of scaling or allometry (which is present in the morphogenesis of all species, especially in O. byronia). Additionally, the slopes of changes in shape related with size increase are different in A. australis and O. byronia, but are equal in C. ursinus, which is the smaller species. We suggest post-displacement as one of the factors that could have acted in the origin of the sexual dimorphism in the skull of C. ursinus. Heterochrony, perhaps is present in the roots of the modifications suffered by the ontogeny of A. australis and O. byronia too, considering the differences in the rates of development between the sexes of both species (and overall in O. byronia), but surely repatterning allometric is involved too in these cases. We verified that ontogenies can not be summarized by a single linear vector in any analyzed group, where C. ursinus ontogeny is the more linear and O. byronia the more multi-dimensional species among the 3 that we had examined. Shape changes in the otarids studied here are more related with size than with age and any of the species share a common growth allometry or a common ontogenetic trajectory/pattern. In the same way, shapes at onset or offset are not the same in any case. When the three species are pooled together, initial shapes are always very different among the species and the distances between shapes increase with time almost independently from size. On the other hand, when the complete samples are considered, all the ontogenetic trajectories are significantly different in the directions of the allometric vectors during ontogeny. Ontogenetic trajectories differ significantly among almost all the pairs compared, except for the trajectories of A. australis and C. ursinus males. They are no more different than expected by chance considering the range of angles within each sample. A similar pattern is found when the subadults are compared between pairs of species and when we compare adult males of A. australis with adult males of O. byronia. The juveniles are no more different than expected by chance (correlation between ontogenies in that phase is equal to one), excepti between C. ursinus and O. byronia. The ontogenetic trajectory of C. ursinus is the shorter and of O. byronia is the longer being almost three times longer than the former. A. australis has an intermediary length of ontogenetic trajectory. For the sample comprising all three species disparity increase significantly over ontogeny since the disparity of the adults is near the two times of the disparity between juveniles. For any ontogenetic stage, O. byronia is the species that contributes for the disparity of the all group, followed by C. ursinus. When we consider the three species together, the pattern of disparity do not change a lot during ontogeny. Ontogenies examined herein are clearly not constrained and perhaps the differences in patterns have additive effects in the differentiation of the ontogenies. Whether ontogenetic trajectories are linear or curve could be a function of developmental timing or more specifically it could depend on the age at which allometries stabilize in post-natal ontogenies. Otherwise, the amount of differences between species in the ontogenies is in agreement with the phylogenetic relationships. Finally, we addressed basically the following questions: Is onset time the same in the species? Is offset time the same in these species? Does growth rate differ between the species. The answer to those questions could be summarized by the conclusion. but we conclude that the changes in otarids skull ontogenies had occurred in spatial and temporal terms.

The search for mechanisms that can generate major morphological changes has led to the study of ontogeny, in part because some kinds of modifications of ontogenies seem an excelent way to generate major phenotypic change. We focus here on Arctocephlaus australis, Callorhinus ursinus and Otaria byronia with the aim of contributing to the understanding of the origin, structure and temporal patterns of otarid morphological diversity. The pattern of change in shape during postnatal development in otarid skull was studied and described by geometric and traditional morphometrics. Our aims are: to compare the skull ontogeny of the species invocated in identifying and in describing shape alterations in the skull; to evaluate and to describe comparatively the sexual dimorphism and disparity during the ontogeny; to study the covariance between size and shape in relationship with age-groups; to investigate the changes in the ontogeny and their relationships with the evolution of the Otariidae Family; to analyze the conservation of ontogenetic trajectories over time, between sexes and among species; to characterize growth trajectories and to compare them among taxa with respect to isometry; to describe the parameters of growth and development of the focused species and to compare the two different approaches employed. Using traditional morphometrics, the allometry vectors for all species were significantly different from isometry. Dimorphism in the allometric vector is observed only in O. byonia and the difference between males and females of the fur seals are related with adult body size. The comparisons species/sex groups revealed similar vectors (any significant shape disassociation are verified in the inter-specific analyzes), suggesting lower plasticity of the ontogenies. Using geometrical methods, the dimorphism is more conspicuous in adult shapes but this is not true for the level of disparity between sexes of O. byronia. Although that dimorphism is linked with size this is not only a question of scaling or allometry (which is present in the morphogenesis of all species, especially in O. byronia). Additionally, the slopes of changes in shape related with size increase are different in A. australis and O. byronia, but are equal in C. ursinus, which is the smaller species. We suggest post-displacement as one of the factors that could have acted in the origin of the sexual dimorphism in the skull of C. ursinus. Heterochrony, perhaps is present in the roots of the modifications suffered by the ontogeny of A. australis and O. byronia too, considering the differences in the rates of development between the sexes of both species (and overall in O. byronia), but surely repatterning allometric is involved too in these cases. We verified that ontogenies can not be summarized by a single linear vector in any analyzed group, where C. ursinus ontogeny is the more linear and O. byronia the more multi-dimensional species among the 3 that we had examined. Shape changes in the otarids studied here are more related with size than with age and any of the species share a common growth allometry or a common ontogenetic trajectory/pattern. In the same way, shapes at onset or offset are not the same in any case. When the three species are pooled together, initial shapes are always very different among the species and the distances between shapes increase with time almost independently from size. On the other hand, when the complete samples are considered, all the ontogenetic trajectories are significantly different in the directions of the allometric vectors during ontogeny. Ontogenetic trajectories differ significantly among almost all the pairs compared, except for the trajectories of A. australis and C. ursinus males. They are no more different than expected by chance considering the range of angles within each sample. A similar pattern is found when the subadults are compared between pairs of species and when we compare adult males of A. australis with adult males of O. byronia. The juveniles are no more different than expected by chance (correlation between ontogenies in that phase is equal to one), excepti between C. ursinus and O. byronia. The ontogenetic trajectory of C. ursinus is the shorter and of O. byronia is the longer being almost three times longer than the former. A. australis has an intermediary length of ontogenetic trajectory. For the sample comprising all three species disparity increase significantly over ontogeny since the disparity of the adults is near the two times of the disparity between juveniles. For any ontogenetic stage, O. byronia is the species that contributes for the disparity of the all group, followed by C. ursinus. When we consider the three species together, the pattern of disparity do not change a lot during ontogeny. Ontogenies examined herein are clearly not constrained and perhaps the differences in patterns have additive effects in the differentiation of the ontogenies. Whether ontogenetic trajectories are linear or curve could be a function of developmental timing or more specifically it could depend on the age at which allometries stabilize in post-natal ontogenies. Otherwise, the amount of differences between species in the ontogenies is in agreement with the phylogenetic relationships. Finally, we addressed basically the following questions: Is onset time the same in the species? Is offset time the same in these species? Does growth rate differ between the species. The answer to those questions could be summarized by the conclusion. but we conclude that the changes in otarids skull ontogenies had occurred in spatial and temporal terms.

The benefits gained by the presentation of environmental enrichment (EE) to captive animals are widely recognized. Few studies have, however, studied how to maximize the effect of EE. Repeated presentations of EE may cause a reduced interest towards the EE device, called habituation. To study the effect of habituation towards EE, behavioural data from 14 captive Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus) were collected during two different EE treatments. In treatment one, honey logs were presented for five consecutive days (ConsEE). In treatment two, the logs were presented every alternative day for five days (AltEE). The different treatments both showed a significant effect on responsiveness toward the EE, however, leaving gap days inbetween presentations in AltEE showed no reliable reduction in habituation. Both treatments significantly reduced stereotypies, however, only ConsEE reduced levels of stereotypies long term. Explorative behaviours, which are the most prominent behaviours in the wild, increased during both treatments. This is consistent with previous findings (Fischbacher & Schmid 1999, Grandia et al. 2001) that EE increases natural behaviours, which has been desribed as an indication of improved welfare (Carlstead et al. 1991 etc.). Other behavioural categories such as social and passiva behaviours were unaffected by the EE presentations. THe results show that it is possible to increase the effectiveness of EE by simple means in order to ensure animal welfare.

I examined the population trends of northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) using an age-specific metapopulation model that allowed migration between rookeries. Mortality and birth rates were modified to simulate future population trends. I also examined the early migratory behavior and habitat associations of pups from Bering Island (BI), Russia. I instrumented 35 pups with Mk10-AL satellite tags and stomach temperature telemeters which provided diving, foraging and location data. I hypothesized that some aspects of pup behavior from the stable BI population differed from the behavior of pups from the unstable Pribilof Islands (PI). The population model revealed that emigration did not contribute significantly to the current PI population decline. However, large source populations contributed significantly to population growth in newly colonized rookeries. A stabilization of the PI population was predicted with a 10 to 20 percent reduction in both juvenile and adult female mortality rates. The diving behavior of pups showed a general progression towards longer and deeper dives as pups aged, particularly between 1600 – 0400 (local time), that was similar to PI pup behavior. However, unlike pups from the PI, I found three main diving strategies among BI pups: 1) shallow daytime divers (mean depth = 3.56 m), 2) deep daytime divers (mean depth = 6.36 m) and 3) mixed divers (mean depth = 4.81 m). The foraging behavior of pups showed that most successful ingestion events occurred between 1600 – 0400, with successful ingestion events lasting 25.36 plus/minus 27.37 min. There was no significant difference among the three strategies in the depth of successful foraging dives. I also examined the foraging search strategies in adult females and pups. Both pups and adults conducted Levy walks, although pups foraged in smaller patches (1 km scales). Using a logistic model to determine habitat associations, I found that pup locations were positively correlated with increasing chlorophyll a concentrations, distances from shore, and sea surface temperatures, and were negatively correlated with depth. There was no significant relationship between all pup locations and the regions (peripheries or centers) or types (cyclonic or anti-cyclonic) of eddies, but ingestion event locations were related to mesoscale eddy peripheries.

<p>The benefits gained by the presentation of environmental enrichment (EE) to captive animals are widely recognized. Few studies have, however, studied how to maximize the effect of EE. Repeated presentations of EE may cause a reduced interest towards the EE device, called habituation. To study the effect of habituation towards EE, behavioural data from 14 captive Sloth bears (<em>Melursus ursinus</em>) were collected during two different EE treatments. In treatment one, honey logs were presented for five consecutive days (ConsEE). In treatment two, the logs were presented every alternative day for five days (AltEE). The different treatments both showed a significant effect on responsiveness toward the EE, however, leaving gap days inbetween presentations in AltEE showed no reliable reduction in habituation. Both treatments significantly reduced stereotypies, however, only ConsEE reduced levels of stereotypies long term. Explorative behaviours, which are the most prominent behaviours in the wild, increased during both treatments. This is consistent with previous findings (Fischbacher & Schmid 1999, Grandia et al. 2001) that EE increases natural behaviours, which has been desribed as an indication of improved welfare (Carlstead et al. 1991 etc.). Other behavioural categories such as social and passiva behaviours were unaffected by the EE presentations. THe results show that it is possible to increase the effectiveness of EE by simple means in order to ensure animal welfare.</p>

Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, wissenschaftliche Grundlagen zur Verbesserung der Haltung von Lippenbären (Melursus ursinus, Shaw 1791) in menschlicher Obhut zu schaffen. Im Rahmen einer Literaturstudie wurden für die Betreuung der Tierart wichtige Daten, wie physiologische und labordiagnostische Werte, sowie notwendige Aspekte für die Diskussion der Haltungsprobleme herausgegriffen und systematisch dargestellt. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wurde die Lippenbärenhaltung in 4 europäischen Zoologischen Gärten auf Gehegegestaltung, Fortpflanzungsbiologie, Fütterung, Häufigkeitsverteilung klinischer Erkrankungen und Todesursachen im Zeitraum von 1960-2000 untersucht. Die häufigsten klinischen Krankheitsfälle waren Endoparasitosen, Erkrankungen des Verdauungsapparates und Traumata. Bei den Todesursachen adulter Lippenbären stand mit einer Inzidenz von 47,6 % das Metastasierende Extrahepatische Gallengangskarzinom (MEG) im Vordergrund. Dabei ergaben sich betreffend Verlauf, Histologie und Metastasierungsgrad auffallende Gemeinsamkeiten mit dem cholangiolären Karzinom des Menschen. Die Jungtiersterblichkeit lag bei über 67,3 % in den ersten zwei Lebensjahren. Optimale räumliche und klimatische Bedingungen in den Wurfkäfigen sind als die wichtigsten Voraussetzungen für eine erfolgreiche Aufzucht erkannt worden. Weiterhin wurden im Rahmen der Arbeit Vergleichswerte für labordiagnostische Parameter bei klinisch gesunden Tieren und geeignete Kombinationen zur Neuroleptanalgesie erarbeitet. Ein Schwerpunkt der Arbeit lag auf der Analyse möglicher Zusammenhänge zwischen der Fütterung und dem als häufigste Todesursache der adulten Tiere festgestellten MEG. Zu diesem Zweck wurden von 26 Zoos die Futterrationen (n = 47) erhoben und mit den Angaben von Untersuchungen aus der Wildbahn verglichen. Basierend auf den quantitativen Verzehrsanalysen wird eine detaillierte Fütterungsempfehlung angeboten, die den Kern eines Maßnahmenkataloges zur Verbesserung der Lippenbärenhaltungen in menschlicher Obhut bildet. / The goal of this study was to determine, how to better care for Sloth bears (Melursus ursinus, Shaw 1791) in captivity. A literary study was performed to determine physiological and laboratory parameters as well as other important factors for the husbandry of Sloth bears. Records from 1960-2000 on the care of Melursus ursinus kept in four European Zoological gardens have been evaluated. Specifically investigated were enclosure design, reproduction, feeding conditions, incidences of diseases and morbidity. The main clinical problems were parasitosis, indigestion and traumatism. The dominant cause of death of adult Sloth bears was cholangiocarcinoma with an incidence of 47,6 %. Common aspects to the human cholangiocarcinoma were discovered, such as course, histology and metastatic invasion. The mortality of juveniles was 67,3 % during the first two years. It was found that optimum spatial and climatic conditions in the denning enclosures and cubing boxes were most important for successful rearing. Reference values for laboratory parameters and immobilization of Sloth bears were established. The possible connection between feeding and the high incidence of cholangiocarcinoma in adult animals was investigated. This was obtained by analyzing 47 diets from 26 Zoological Gardens and comparing them with the natural diets of the animals. Based on this quantitative consumption analysis a detailed feeding plan was developed. This plan is shaping the heart of the developed guideline to improve the keeping conditions of Sloth bears in Zoos.