Ecology, Conservation and Welfare of Captive and Wild Animals

Animal welfare and behaviour is a concern in captivity but is also a factor affecting conservation success. An animal ability to cope with stressors, which varies between and within species, can affect survival of individuals and compromise a population’s viability. Human-induced stressors impact individuals differently depending on their personality, which applies to captive and wild settings. Ignoring this variation in animal behaviour can diminish the efficacy of costly conservation plan or, even worse, permanently alter the survival probability of a species by artificially selecting some behaviour trait or lead a population toward domestication. This project’s goal is to evaluate the adaptive value of different personality facing human induced stress in captivity and in the wild.

Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Weladji

Student:

Isaac Blaise Djoko

Partner:

Granby Zoo

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

Program: