Dissertation/3rd Year Projects in Zoos

sealion

sealion

Well-Known Member
Hello,

I am looking for ideas for my 3rd year project and have decided that I would like to do my research in a zoo. As it is a captive environment, and little interaction/interference can be made with the animals it is likely going to have to be an observatory project.

I have been trying to find examples of what people have done in the past in zoos (with any species) but so far I haven't found much information so I was wondering whether you guys knew of any past projects that might give me some inspiration and insight into what can be done. Research on any species is welcome, as I am just trying to get a feel for the kinds of things people do and I thought that you zoo people might have some experience in this matter.

Thanks :)
 
Well I am looking at pinnipeds in particular, so i'm looking mainly at behaviour outside of shows (for californian sea lions anyway) because behaviour during training would be quite hard to study. I've tried to find whether anyone else has done any similar pinniped studies but most research papers and things I can find are on wild species.

I heard of one person who did their project on lion enrichment, and made toys for the animals but i'm not sure that this is as applicable as most trained animals cannot have specific toys as they are too similar to ones used in behaviours etc, so it's a little more tricky. The other project I have heard of was someone comparing large and small groups of lemurs at two different zoos in differeny styles of behaviour. Something similar to this is an option, but it requires two different placements (and ones with different group structures etc).

I'd just like some advise or to hear of what other zoologists/biologists have done in the past really, and whether any people with inside knowledge know what kinds of research they allow people to do at their zoos. The applications ask for very specific details on the research, so I am having to form a very good idea of what I want to do before I apply.
 
I wish I knew the name of the guy so you could contact him but, two summers ago we had someone doing behavorial study with our river otters involving enrichment.
 
They had a research project at Yorkshire Wildlife Park to do with the lechwe and wetland and diet but I don't know if it was a student project, it involved separating 2 small groups off.
At Twycross a keeper once mentioned a student working on getting DNA samples from the chimps using cheek swabs (I think, it's a few years ago).
 
Thanks for the info guys. :) I've been looking at some research papers for ideas as I need to find some that I can use to relate my project to. Hopefully once I get in touch with some zoos they will have some more info as well, so I am not confined to doing a lab project just yet. :)
 
Hi Sealion,

One of the issues that you need to address for your dissertation primarily is the planning of it.

For example I read that you would ideally like to do your dissertation on

a) animal behaviour studies (a non lab based project - good choice in my book :)).
b) Pinnipeds (the Sea Lions at your local zoo?)

One of the 'things' that you know you need for good scientific papers is plenty of good quality 'raw data' - in this case hours spent observing. Also you need variety, which may be a problem here as I speculate that there are not too many sea lions......? This could lead you to not getting very much information despite your hard work and hours spent observing.

What may possibly be a better idea for an animal behaviour dissertation is to change species to something that will be in larger numbers at the zoo (you don’t want too many though), something that shows a variety of different behavioural traits, something that is active enough for getting information and something that interacts with members of their own species. and don't forget you need to be able to identify individuals amongst the group, so forget ants :p

I suggest a good possible target is the Chimpanzee, they tick many of the boxes that you need to get yourself armed with enough information to put a decent dissertation together, if no Chimps then look at other primates that there may be present in large enough family groups.

You can study their behaviour with regards to some ideas below and lots more :
Feeding behaviour, both individuals and how they act in the group, i.e. who gets first pick of the fresh food.
General hierarchy within the group, who is in charge, who wants to be in charge and when do youngsters start to show adult traits etc,,
Sexual behaviours, which individuals are breeding in the males and females and who is trying to breed successfully or not.

I know from experience that choosing something that is going to give you lots of diverse information is going to make your dissertation a better read and easier to write up than having a go at it with a lack of information despite lots of hours spent working at it. The sea lions may be your favourite species, but they will always be there after the dissertation is out of the way and completed.
 
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Pootle said:
Hi Sealion,

One of the issues that you need to address for your dissertation primarily is the planning of it.

For example I read that you would ideally like to do your dissertation on

a) animal behaviour studies (a non lab based project - good choice in my book :)).
b) Pinnipeds (the Sea Lions at your local zoo?)

One of the 'things' that you know you need for good scientific papers is plenty of good quality 'raw data' - in this case hours spent observing. Also you need variety, which may be a problem here as I speculate that there are not too many sea lions......? This could lead you to not getting very much information despite your hard work and hours spent observing.

What may possibly be a better idea for an animal behaviour dissertation is to change species to something that will be in larger numbers at the zoo (you don’t want too many though), something that shows a variety of different behavioural traits, something that is active enough for getting information and something that interacts with members of their own species. and don't forget you need to be able to identify individuals amongst the group, so forget ants :p

I suggest a good possible target is the Chimpanzee, they tick many of the boxes that you need to get yourself armed with enough information to put a decent dissertation together, if no Chimps then look at other primates that there may be present in large enough family groups.

You can study their behaviour with regards to some ideas below and lots more :
Feeding behaviour, both individuals and how they act in the group, i.e. who gets first pick of the fresh food.
General hierarchy within the group, who is in charge, who wants to be in charge and when do youngsters start to show adult traits etc,,
Sexual behaviours, which individuals are breeding in the males and females and who is trying to breed successfully or not.

I know from experience that choosing something that is going to give you lots of diverse information is going to make your dissertation a better read and easier to write up than having a go at it with a lack of information despite lots of hours spent working at it. The sea lions may be your favourite species, but they will always be there after the dissertation is out of the way and completed.
Click to expand...

Hi Pootle, thanks for the information. I think you have make a good point about the group size. Not many pinniped exhibits in this country have large numbers of residents unfortunately and there is a chance that my supervisor (who has not yet been assigned) will reject my plans if they are not detailed enough. I am trying to do as much research as possible to avoid this! (Hence the thread!) I am not a massive fan of primates but your post have deffinitely given me food for thought! I had thought that by choosing to study pinnipeds it would demonstrate my interest to future employers etc. Thanks again though!
 
off of Pootie's view of larger groups you could also do small clawed otters or meerkats. :) We finally found a use for them!
 
If you want to work with aquatic animals you could choose penguins and study the group dynamics within a flock. Backing away from aquatics you could do the same with groups of hoofstock, look at space usage which might be attractive to zoological managers.
 
Rookeyper said:
If you want to work with aquatic animals you could choose penguins and study the group dynamics within a flock. Backing away from aquatics you could do the same with groups of hoofstock, look at space usage which might be attractive to zoological managers.
Click to expand...

I had forgotten about penguins! They are pretty fun to watch and are one of my favourite zoo animals after pinnipeds. Hoofstock wouldn't be too bad either. :)

Thanks for the advice guys. I don't really mind not doing sea lions or seals except that I'd thought that it would look better on my CV if I want to pursue work involving aquatic animals. I'm just not sure how much it matters or whether that extra research would show my dedication. Obviously if it's not possible to get a good project then it's obviously not a good idea... My tutor hasn't been very useful (yet) and hasn't given me many guidelines on how to plan it (rather than if I had picked one of the university's research projects) so I am in two minds about which direction I should go. We have talks and things about dissertation stuff later on in the year but if I need to contact a zoo I need to do it asap. Last summer I did two weeks work experience with a sea lion department but I had applied before christmas so it is starting to worry me!

Some people in my year have opted to do projects abroad with a charity where they just choose one of their projects- so some people have it all sorted without doing anything much at all! (Although they are very expensive!! So now they are running fundraisers claiming that the money goes towards helping to animals.....) but anyway...
 
At our zoo we group sealions, penguins, river otters and the alligators as Aquatics. As a person who interviews and hires for my area at the zoo I would see your prior time with sea lions and your study with penguins as applicable to that whole area. Just my thoughts.
 
Rookeyper said:
At our zoo we group sealions, penguins, river otters and the alligators as Aquatics. As a person who interviews and hires for my area at the zoo I would see your prior time with sea lions and your study with penguins as applicable to that whole area. Just my thoughts.
Click to expand...

Ah thank you, that is interesting :).
 
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