Ethological evaluation of enrichment with crickets (Acheta domesticus) and king worms (Zophobas morio) in Churucos monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha) kept in captivity

Abstract

The captivity of wild animals produces important behavioral and physiological alterations, derived, among others, from the restriction of space and limited food variety, for which the continuous establishment of compensation strategies such as enrichment is necessary. The objective of the research was the ethological evaluation of enrichment with crickets (Acheta domesticus) and king worm (Zophobas morio) in specimens of churuco monkeys (Lagothrix lagotricha) housed in the support unit, Hogar de Paso para Fauna Silvestre of the Universidad de la Amazonía, located in the rural area of Florencia - Caquetá, Colombia. For its development, a vivarium was implemented for the reproduction of the invertebrates used in the enrichments, and work was done with 16 primate specimens (eight males and eight females), for whose behavioral monitoring ethograms were established for 11 weeks, of which, in the first four were not enriched to identify the initial behavioral pattern. The analysis of the interactions between the behavioral variables studied (feeding, locomotion, social interactions, rest, alertness, care and various activities), was performed using Fisher's LSD test (α=0.05); to identify differences between the fixed factors for each of the variables studied, an analysis of variance was used, and a principal components analysis was also developed. As a main result, it was found that the implementation of the enrichments generated an increase in the investment time for the categories of food, locomotion, social interactions and various activities; and a decrease in the category of rest, thus achieving an effective motivation for the appearance of natural behaviors of the species.