KOLTER, L. et al. (2007)

KOLTER, L., KAMPHORST, N.F. & RUVEN, S.A.W. (2007)

The design of new bear facilities.

Kapitel 2 der EAZA Bear Husbandry Guidelines. 45 Seiten, Abbildungen, Tabellen. EAZA, Amsterdam

Einleitung:

This chapter considers both outdoor and indoor enclosures, their furnishings, substrates and the technical features of new bear facilities. An enclosure should be designed to provide all the requirements necessary for the care and maintenance of the bears and also, if needed, for reproduction. The facility must not only be escape proof, but should also create suitable conditions and stimulation which will enable the animals to perform a wide range of species-specific behaviours. The environment must not permanently create problems, which the animals cannot solve, and should be sufficiently flexible in design for any adverse situations to be easily rectified.

It is essential to have a thorough knowledge of the normal behaviour of bears, their use of habitat and particularly their locomotor activities in relation to the use of cage furnishings and structures in outdoor enclosures, substrates and any other factors, which may effect them. This will enable the zoo to design facilities, which meet the animals' physical and behavioural needs. Feeding, social and spatial organization and reproductive biology will be treated in more detail in subsequent chapters. Only general features of these aspects of bear biology will be considered in this chapter, where they are relevant to the design of a bear facility.

 

kolter-biblio