Can behavioural issues be passed down from parents

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JT

JT

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So I’ve got a question, if an animal is rescued from poor conditions and brought to a zoo they’re most likely to exhibit certain behaviours even when they get to the zoo due to their past, if this animal were to have a baby, would the baby then develop these unnatural behaviours from watching their parents?
 
Jude T said:
So I’ve got a question, if an animal is rescued from poor conditions and brought to a zoo they’re most likely to exhibit certain behaviours even when they get to the zoo due to their past, if this animal were to have a baby, would the baby then develop these unnatural behaviours from watching their parents?
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You might find this paper by ZSL researchers quite interesting as it does touch on your question but in the context of captive primates.

https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/izy.12187
 
Not sure that there is much literature out there on this issue though, but definitely I've heard annecdotal reports of what seems to be inherited character traits in individual animals in zoos.

Of course in the absence of rigorous studies on this topic it is hard to prove though.
 
Jude T said:
So I’ve got a question, if an animal is rescued from poor conditions and brought to a zoo they’re most likely to exhibit certain behaviours even when they get to the zoo due to their past, if this animal were to have a baby, would the baby then develop these unnatural behaviours from watching their parents?
Click to expand...
I’m not sure there is too much information on the topic, how did you think of this question?
 
orangutanbaby said:
I’m not sure there is too much information on the topic, how did you think of this question?
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It was actually my girlfriend who asked when I was talking about zoos and I didn’t really know what to tell her so I thought I’d put it out to everyone on here.
 
Jude T said:
So I’ve got a question, if an animal is rescued from poor conditions and brought to a zoo they’re most likely to exhibit certain behaviours even when they get to the zoo due to their past, if this animal were to have a baby, would the baby then develop these unnatural behaviours from watching their parents?
Click to expand...

I can give you one example where this can sometimes happen. In Gorillas, some that experience stress- for whatever reason, background, environment etc, will hold their hand or curled fist over one or both ears. Some young born to mothers that do this will sometimes do this by imitation too, rather than because they experience the same stress factors.
 
Pertinax said:
I can give you one example where this can sometimes happen. In Gorillas, some that experience stress- for whatever reason, background, environment etc, will hold their hand or curled fist over one or both ears. Some young born to mothers that do this will sometimes do this by imitation too, rather than because they experience the same stress factors.
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So if an animal was to get stressed due to lack of space and displayed behaviours due to these conditions even when moving to a zoo with a lot more space, and the child was to develop this as both of their parents displayed this behaviour, what would the chances of this happening be? And if that child had a child who’s mother displayed that behaviour but father didn’t then would it continue with a lower chance of developing this each time?
 
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orangutanbaby said:
So if an animal was to get stressed due to lack of space and displayed behaviours due to these conditions even when moving to a zoo with a lot more space, and the child was to develop this as both of their parents displayed this behaviour, what would the chances of this happening be? And if that child had a child who’s mother displayed that behaviour but father didn’t then would it continue with a lower chance of developing this each time?
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Can't really answer you there. Most animals only have a strong tie with the mother while being reared, and not the father, so its more likely to be a mother's behaviour that is imitated. Also the power for imitation is stronger in e.g. higher primates than in other species so the example I quoted would probably not occur in many other species..
 
Pertinax said:
Can't really answer you there. Most animals only have a strong tie with the mother while being reared, and not the father, so its more likely to be a mother's behaviour that is imitated. Also the power for imitation is stronger in e.g. higher primates than in other species so the example I quoted would probably not occur in many other species..
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Thank you
 
Pertinax said:
I can give you one example where this can sometimes happen. In Gorillas, some that experience stress- for whatever reason, background, environment etc, will hold their hand or curled fist over one or both ears. Some young born to mothers that do this will sometimes do this by imitation too, rather than because they experience the same stress factors.
Click to expand...

Very interesting and really quite sad to learn too.
 
Animals that have been poorly socialised when young may show poor parenting skills and this can result in behavioural issues in their young. This is particularly marked in intelligent, highly social species. These behavioural issues should however be less marked in the young, should they survive parental mismanagement.
 
Animals can definitely have behavioral issues be passed down from parents. I believe that they can learn undesired behaviors for other individuals, as well as other species, too. For example, things like a miscommunication between humans and animals during training sessions can accidentally encourage undesirable behaviors to occur. If it isn't corrected, the issue can continue to get worse.

Primates are prime candidates for exhibiting undesirable behaviors. Their intelligence seems to encourage mischievous behavior. Their array of emotions can also lead them to doing self-mutilative behaviors if kept in the wrong conditions. It is said that primates hand-raised by humans can struggle to live with their own species, as they are often aggressive.
 
It should be noted that the presence of other individuals in the group that do behave "normal" can fix a lot of problems. It also depends a lot on the species, as I find in my local elephant group that the stereotypical behavior displayed by the old generation (wild-caught, hand-reared, circus-past, once kept alone, etc.) are absent in elephants from the new generation (social/family group, spacious enclosure, plenty of enrichment, etc.).
 
It would largely depend on the species. As a few people have mentioned, primates are notorious for passing down negative learned behavioural traits. Many animals have a critical learning period, where if they don't learn a behaviour (through observation or assimilation) by a certain age, they never will. For great apes, this is around 12 years and a female who has not witnessed a mother nursing by this age is less likely to successfully nurse her own infant.

Similarly, cetaceans can develop abnormal behaviour through observing their parents. A female Orca at SeaWorld who observed her mother attempt to drown her maladapted younger sibling, later exhibited aggressive behaviour towards her own healthy offspring.

Felids are an interesting one. While socialisation of the young is necessary for them to develop normal behaviours to interact/breed etc. with other members of their species, it's not always essential for them in their role as a mother. I spoke to a keeper regarding if they expected their hand raised tigress to have any issues rearing her cubs; and she replied no, because it is an instinctual behaviour (tigers don't learn mothering skills by observing other mother tigers).
 
Zoofan15 said:
I spoke to a keeper regarding if they expected their hand raised tigress to have any issues rearing her cubs; and she replied no, because it is an instinctual behaviour (tigers don't learn mothering skills by observing other mother tigers).
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I believe this can also be the case in the higher Primates too. I know of a number of gorilla females(and orangutan also) that, despite never having observed another female raising a baby, have reared their first offspring perfectly. In some cases the mother was handraised and comparatively de-socialised too. I am really not sure just how important the 'maternal example' role that is so often quoted, really is.
 
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