Welfare advantages of a 2 story macaque group cage

Bushmitz Moshe DVM - BFC Israel moshe@bushmitz.com

2003

• Commercial breeding farm of ‘Macaca fascicularis’

• SPF colony (B virus, SRV, STLV free), operative from 1990.

• 450 breeders: 30-40F + 2-3 M in per group.

• 250 offspring per year.

BFC Israel

Social factors & primate welfare

• Macaques have a complex social structure.

• In a group there are low & high ranking animals, babies & adults living in a limited space.

• Focus: improving the quality of life for low ranking animals, who are more susceptible to aggression.

• Main challenges: aggression & breeding.

Visual barriers• VB screens (VB) divide the space into subspaces and allow low ranking animals to hide from other animals and staff.

• We use vertical standing VB, hanging VB , and barrels.

• VB are essential to reducing aggression but numbers must be limited as too many can interfere with cleaning and catching.

Old cage setting• One level cage, 6 m wide ,12 m long and 2m high divided in the middle (after 6m) to allow isolation and catching.

New 2 story cage with horizontal VB• We built a 4m high cage with a wooden floor separating the 2 levels, allowing animals to freely move up and down through multiple openings.

• The big wooden floor serves as VB between 1st and 2nd level.

Observation points- “control tower”• Attention should be given to provide attractive vantage points so that high ranking animals will have less motivation to chase animals to the lower level

Creating a cage like a tree• The cage is like an imaginary tree with a sunny canopy, in the middle there is a wooden floor similar to branches, and the floor is for foraging or swimming.

• All furnishings are made from hard eucalyptus wood.

• We have had no problems related to wood in the cages.

Would the 2 story cage reduce aggression ?

• The new cage setting has 7x’s more VB surface (49sqm vs 7sqm)

• Would the low ranking animals hide under the wooden floor as they hid behind the VB ?

• Very quickly, the 1st level became the preferred area for those animals.

• The high cage better meets primates’ needs to climb, jump and hide.

• Another benefit of the floor is that the lower level is darker, making it more difficult for dominant animals to spot low ranking animals underneath.

Reduction in aggression

0.0

7.5

15.0

22.5

30.0

1 story 2 story

aggression/session

-45%

• Moving to the 2 story cage, aggression was reduced by 45%.

How animals use the environment in conflicts

• Animals preferred moving to the lower level during conflicts, demonstrating how effective the floor is as a visual barrier.

0

15

30

45

60

move to lower level Standing VBHanging VB barrels

11%

56%

25%

8%

• 3 copulatory strategies are used by the β male:

• Hiding: hides to copulate.

• Opportunism:takes risks to copulate, even if he's near α.

• Distance:takes distance from α before copulating.

• β male used hiding, a less risky strategy, in the 2 story cage.

0

20

40

60

80

1 story 2 story

hidingopportunismdistance

42% - same level58% - other level

Would the new cage improve breeding?

Female time budgets• In the 2 story cage:

• positive social grooming increased.

• self-grooming decreased

• feeding and foraging increased.

0.0

7.5

15.0

22.5

30.0

1 story 2 story

social groomingself groomingfeeding/foraging

Eating in the 2nd level• Most of the social activity is done in the upper level. • Food is given only on the lower level so high ranking animals are taking small amounts of food and climbing up . This allows the low ranking animals better access to food and forces obese animals to exercise.

Special adaptation for growing macaques• Many more climbing devices, stable swings, swimming pools, less VB as there are no problems of aggression.

Geriatric cages• More wooden platforms with horizontal ladders for easier climbing.

• Special ladders for easier climbing between the levels.

Welfare & enrichment in breeding facilities• Enriching environments require big investments. • Animals bred for research should be psychologically as well as physically healthy.

• Welfare management programs in breeding facilities will improve the quality of life for many thousands of primates and will result in a healthy & normal environment for their offspring before they go to research.