Enclosure design and welfare of plains zebras: Impact of enclosure design on behavior and space use of plains zebras under human care.

Plains zebras are commonly hosted in zoos, but few welfare-related studies are available in the literature. This research aimed to assess the effect of enclosure design on two groups of captive zebras housed at the Giardino Zoologico di Pistoia - GZP (Italy) and Parco Faunistico Valcorba - PFV (Italy) through the analysis of behavior and enclosure use. The groups consisted of an adult pair and a male juvenile at GZP and six adult females at PFV.

Isochronous singing in 3 crested gibbon species ( spp.).

The search for common characteristics between the musical abilities of humans and other animal species is still taking its first steps. One of the most promising aspects from a comparative point of view is the analysis of rhythmic components, which are crucial features of human communicative performance but also well-identifiable patterns in the vocal displays of other species. Therefore, the study of rhythm is becoming essential to understand the mechanisms of singing behavior and the evolution of human communication.

The Integrated Effect of Environmental Conditions and Human Presence on the Behaviour of a Pair of Zoo-Housed Asian Small-Clawed Otters.

Zoos and aquaria have the ethical responsibility to provide animals under their care with conditions that promote good welfare. This study evaluated the combined influence of human presence and environmental factors on the behaviour of zoo-housed Asian small-clawed otters (). Data collection was conducted on a pair hosted at Pistoia Zoo (Italy).

Enriching Zoo-Housed Ring-Tailed Lemurs (): Assessing the Influence of Three Types of Environmental Enrichment on Behavior.

Environmental enrichment is a management tool used to promote positive animal welfare by stimulating species-specific behaviors and providing animals with opportunities to exert choice and control over the environment. Our study aimed to evaluate the combined effect of three enrichment types and environmental/individual factors (i.e.

Development of A Tool for Assessing the Reputation of Zoos: The Zoo Ethical Reputation Survey (ZERS).

Nowadays, most zoos have taken prominent and active positions in endangered species conservation and educating visitors about the value of biodiversity. However, to be effective and trusted in their mission, they must act ethically and have a good reputation. Yet, the drivers that can influence their reputation are still little investigated, and there are still few studies focused on assessing the reputation of these institutions.

The Animal-Visitor Interaction Protocol (AVIP) for the assessment of Lemur catta walk-in enclosure in zoos.

Animal-Visitor Interactions (AVI) are activities offered by zoos and other tourism facilities, in which visitors come into close contact with animals. These activities can promote conservational and educational content, raise conservation mindedness and responsibility for the environment and animal welfare, but if not properly managed can jeopardize visitors' and animals' well-being and conservation efforts. The Animal-Visitor Interaction assessment Protocol (AVIP) has been designed to perform an integrated and multidisciplinary assessment of these activities, encompassing the "One Health, One Welfare" approach.

Vocal accommodation in penguins () as a result of social environment.

The ability to vary the characteristics of one's voice is a critical feature of human communication. Understanding whether and how animals change their calls will provide insights into the evolution of language. We asked to what extent the vocalizations of penguins, a phylogenetically distant species from those capable of explicit vocal learning, are flexible and responsive to their social environment.

Do penguins' vocal sequences conform to linguistic laws?

Information compression is a general principle of human language: the most frequent words are shorter in length (Zipf's Law of Brevity) and the duration of constituents decreases as the size of the linguistic construct increases (Menzerath-Altmann Law). Vocal sequences of non-human primates have been shown to conform to both these laws, suggesting information compression might be a more general principle. Here, we investigated whether display songs of the African penguin, which mediate recognition, intersexual mate choice and territorial defence, conform with these laws.

Sharing playful mood: rapid facial mimicry in Suricata suricatta.

One of the most productive behavioural domains to study visual communication in mammals is social play. The ability to manage play-fighting interactions can favour the development of communicative modules and their correct decoding. Due to their high levels of social cohesion and cooperation, slender-tailed meerkats (Suricata suricatta) are a very good model to test some hypotheses on the role of facial communication in synchronizing playful motor actions.