Assessment of wellbeing indicators in gorillas through monitoring behaviour, emission of vocalisations and hormone levels.

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Investigador principal: Carles Riba Santos

Institution: Universitat de Barcelona

Description:
Keeping gorillas in captivity requires being able to conduct a genetic and demographic monitoring of the population and to monitor the physical and psychological condition of the individuals in it. At present, there are no objective and proven indicators of wellbeing in primates, or more specifically in gorillas.

Barcelona Zoo is currently running a programme to draft standard animal wellbeing surveys. This project seeks to complement this programme with the identification of wellbeing indicators in gorillas through a triple focus: determining the ranges of behaviour or normal activities, studying the vocalisation patterns and their meaning, and assessing the faecal levels of cortisol in two groups of gorillas.

The study aims to identify the relationship between behavioural and physiological variables related to wellbeing. With this objective, a simultaneous assessment of three types of indicator will be conducted:

• Behavioural, to assess the adaptation of gorillas in captivity in relation to their general ethogram, using this as a reference.
• Communicative, based on vocalisations, to assess specifically the expressive and interactive skills of individuals in their group.
• Hormonal, monitoring the levels of faecal cortisol among the individuals studied, parallel to the behaviour and communication studies, with the aim of establishing and determining possible relationships between behaviour patterns, communication patterns, and patterns of cortisol in droppings.

Sponsors of Research and preservation of the Zoo: