Behavioral Diversity as a Potential Indicator of Positive Animal Welfare

Simple Summary The zoological community continually looks for new ways to improve the management of the animals under their professional care. This includes finding opportunities for animals to thrive within a zoo or aquarium environment. Lack of negative indicators of welfare does not demonstrate that an individual animal is in a positive state. Thus, it is necessary to have positive indicators of animal welfare. There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that behavioral diversity may be a potential positive indicator of animal welfare. This review article highlights previous research on behavioral diversity, details the methods to calculate behavioral diversity, and provides guidance on how to use it for an evidence-based animal management program within a zoo or aquarium. Modern day zoos and aquariums continuously assess the welfare of their animals and use evidence to make informed management decisions. Historically, many of the indicators of animal welfare used to assess the collection are negative indicators of welfare, such as stereotypic behavior. However, a lack of negative indicators of animal welfare does not demonstrate that an individual animal is thriving. There is a need for validated measures of positive animal welfare and there is a growing body of evidence that supports the use of behavioral diversity as a positive indicator of welfare. This includes an inverse relationship with stereotypic behavior as well as fecal glucocorticoid metabolites and is typically higher in situations thought to promote positive welfare. This review article highlights previous research on behavioral diversity as a potential positive indicator of welfare. Details are provided on how to calculate behavioral diversity and how to use it when evaluating animal welfare. Finally, the review will indicate how behavioral diversity can be used to inform an evidence-based management approach to animal care and welfare.