Welfare advantages of 2 stories macaque group cage
1. Welfare advantages of a 2
story macaque group cage
Bushmitz Moshe DVM - BFC Israel
moshe@bushmitz.com
2003
2. • 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
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6.
7.
8.
9. 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.
10. • The big wooden floor serves as VB between 1st and 2nd level.
11.
12. 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
13.
14.
15.
16. 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.
18. • We have had no problems related to wood in the cages.
19. 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.
21. 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 VB
Hanging VB barrels
11%
56%
25%
8%
22. • 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
hiding
opportunism
distance
42% - same level
58% - other level
Would the new cage improve breeding?
23.
24. 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 grooming
self grooming
feeding/foraging
25. 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.
26. Special adaptation for growing macaques
• Many more climbing devices, stable swings, swimming pools,
less VB as there are no problems of aggression.
29. Welfare & enrichment in breeding facilities
• Enriching environments require big investments.
• Animals bred for research should be psychologically as well as
physically healthy.
30. • 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.
