Ariel Heiman

Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Bauer, Gordon

Area of Concentration

Biopsychology

Abstract

Stereotypic behaviors are abnormal, repetitive behaviors without a specific goal or function. They have been demonstrated in various ways by many animals in captivity. Apart from one previous study conducted by Anzolin, et al. (2014), not much is yet known about stereotypy in the captive Florida manatee. In this study, a focal continuous all-occurrences sampling method was used to identify and observe manatee behaviors in captivity and compare the behaviors to several different factors: activity, number of visitors, temperature, weather, presence of enrichment, and time of day. An activity budget of manatee behaviors was also devised during the study. Four stereotypic state behaviors, and one event behavior were proposed for Hugh (RCS, CSE, RORCS, ROCSE, & RO), while two stereotypic event behaviors were identified for Buffett (HFALS & TFALS). Results showed that Hugh exhibited stereotypic behaviors 31.67% of the time, and Buffett performed HFALS and TFALS with a frequency of 97, and 29 respectively. The activity budgets demonstrated that both Hugh and Buffett engaged in active behaviors more than expected, and rested less than expected. Stereotypic behaviors were not found to be as related to the tested factors as hypothesized, but positive and negative relationships with other related behaviors offered some context to how manatee behaviors were affected by certain elements in captivity. These also potentially gave more insight into the role stereotypy plays in a captive setting and how to distinguish between stereotypy as an abnormal or adaptive behavior, which may contribute to manatee conservation efforts in the future.

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