Behavioral monitoring in zoos and aquariums: a tool for guiding husbandry and directing research

Watters, Margulis and Atsalis advocated systematic, ongoing behavioural monitoring of individual zoo animals as a foundation for evidence-based husbandry. They described how regularly recording behaviour can detect early signs of welfare problems, evaluate management changes, capture individual differences and generate hypotheses for research. The authors argued that such monitoring transforms anecdotal keeper knowledge into structured, analysable data that guides decisions and reveals trends invisible in one-off studies. The paper helped popularise behavioural-monitoring programs now common in accredited institutions. For felids, continuous monitoring of activity, pacing, feeding and social behaviour provides the baseline against which enrichment, enclosure and management interventions can be judged and welfare changes detected.