Evaluación de los efectos del enriquecimiento nutricional y ocupacional en el comportamiento de Nasuella olivacea ex situ , Bioparque la reserva

Abstract

The immense Colombian biodiversity has turned the country into an important center of illegal wildlife trade despite existing legislation (Mancera,2008). One of the species of procyonidae trafficked for food, to use its skin and for its crosier or penile bone(Tirira,2009) is Nasuella olivacea cataloged as "near threatened (NT)", According to IUCN confiscated individuals that cannot be returned to the wild,should be placed in holding facilities (IUCN,2019). The present work was carried out in the Bioparque la Reserva where the species under study was in captivity. One of the problems of wildlife in captivity that affect the dimensions of animal welfare is the restriction of their natural behaviors such as exploration, locomotion, feeding, and foraging (Morgan, 2007, Kyriazakis, 2011, Mason, 2011). biological requirements which allow them to obtain resources or respond to internal or external stimuli (Fraser, 1990, Broom 2004). These needs respond to the evolutionary process of the species in a given habitat (Phillips, 2002). N. olivacea is considered to be specialized in an insectivorous diet and foraging habits in the subsoil (Rodríguez-Bolaños et al., 2000), agreeing with Peralta in 2013 and his management protocol for mountain coati in captive conditions on adopting a diet of 75% invertebrates and 25% vegetables and fruits, in addition to performing environmental enrichments to stimulate natural behaviors and reduce cortisol levels. (In the present work, nutritional enrichment was implemented with invertebrates used as live food: Tenebrio molitor, Zhophas morio, Gromphadorhina portentosa, and occupational enrichment to stimulate natural behaviors such as foraging in the subsoil. For the evaluation of the enrichments, an ethogram previously designed for the species was implemented and applied before and during the enrichments. The data analysis was obtained using R studio software, applying statistical tests: Shapiro's normality test, Levene's test, Kruskal's test, and Pairwise Wilcoxon test. These tests yielded the results of behavioral frequencies, which showed significant differences in the behavior of individuals before enrichment, during nutritional enrichment, stimulated behaviors typical of the species such as foraging, increased time spent in feeding activities, movement, and exploration. Individual coati 8 presented a significant difference in behavior before and during the enrichments, being the most active coati.