Publications

Male Anolis carolinensis lizards will fight and form social dominance hierarchies when placed in habitats with limited resources. Dominance may procure benefits such as priority access to food, shelter or partners, but may also come with costs, such as a higher risk of injuries due to aggressive interaction, a higher risk of predation or a higher energetic cost, all of which may lead to an increase in stress. While most research looks at ...

Reptiles are often used as model species in scientific research and are popular in the pet trade, yet how they cope with captive conditions has not been well studied. Stress caused by captivity could affect the endocrinology, physiology and behaviour of animals, resulting in a general decrease in welfare and could confound the results of scientific experiments. One of the factors that could influence stress in a captive environment is the size ...

In response to an increased awareness concerning the welfare of captive animals, several studies have investigated the effect of provisions on stress levels in model species, such as small mammals, birds and fish. In contrast, reptiles have received less attention. Although many reptilian species are becoming increasingly popular in the pet trade and are frequently used as model species in various branches of biology and a number of studies have ...

We investigated the influence of zoo visitor numbers on the behaviour of a group of eight harbour seals at Antwerp Zoo. The behaviour of the seals was monitored using instantaneous scan sampling. Visitor presence at the enclosure was also monitored instantaneously. Additionally, daily visitor num-bers for the zoo were gathered. We related seal behaviour to both the number of visitors present during the instantaneous sampling and to the daily ...