Elephant Behaviour (Short Survey)

L

Laurendd93

Member
Hello, could people please take a minute to fill out this short survey for my dissertation.
My aim is to distinguish whether elephants will ever be able to express natural behaviour in captivity.
My objectives:
- to research behaviour in the wild
- to research behaviour in captivity
- to compare the two*
- distinguish any causes to differences in behaviour and possibly recommend improvements*

Please note this is not the only research I am carrying out as this is just to find out if any of the specific stated behaviours have been seen by the public.

Thanks*



https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S5FD9PZ

Thanks :)
 
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Would you be able to give some information on this Lauren? For example, what your aims are (unless this might bias the survey responses :eek:)?
 
Well, maybe it would help when you write of what your disseration is about. Behaviour of captive elephants? If so, then your questions in the survey are not realy balanced and do not even help, because I have seen some of this behaviours in the wild too.
 
Hi, for my dissertation I am researching behaviours of captive elephants to see if they can express natural behaviour in captivity and possible factors that may have an affect.

I hopes this helps to get a reply.

Thank you
 
My aim is to distinguish whether elephants will ever be able to express natural behaviour in captivity.
My objectives:
- to research behaviour in the wild
- to research behaviour in captivity
- to compare the two
- distinguish any causes to differences in behaviour and possibly recommend improvements

Thanks :)
 
I was just wondering because your classmate (?) Laura has posted as well. Without wanting to sound insulting, your survey is so simplistic and leading that you won't be able to deduce anything like what you claim to be looking for in the above posts. The tiger survey is better balanced (apart for the finishing question which is rather anthropomorphic and of no real use in my opinion).

But I hope you get all the answers you need nevertheless :)
 
The questions I have stated in the survey are perfect to find some of the research I am looking for. This is not my only source of research and so far I am happy with my results.

Also, how come you mentioned tigers I have never posted about tigers before.
 
Laurendd93 said:
The questions I have stated in the survey are perfect to find some of the research I am looking for. This is not my only source of research and so far I am happy with my results.

Also, how come you mentioned tigers I have never posted about tigers before.
Click to expand...
that is good then. The tiger survey is from Laura, which I refer to in the post above this one.

It is here: http://www.zoochat.com/38/tiger-behaviour-uk-zoos-355569/
 
Laurendd93 said:
Hi, for my dissertation I am researching behaviours of captive elephants to see if they can express natural behaviour in captivity and possible factors that may have an affect.

I hopes this helps to get a reply.

Thank you
Click to expand...

I looked at the survey.
It reads as though you are wishing to document stress behaviour in zoos
 
Hi, I did state some stereotypical behaviours which I have researched, and on this specific forum I am trying to find out whether any of these have been seen by the public. In other research I am carrying out I am looking for other things.
 
Because in the UK section a very similar topic was created. And the person who made it just so happened to have a name starting with "Laur".
http://www.zoochat.com/38/tiger-behaviour-uk-zoos-355569/

This questionnaire seems quite limited. You are going to learn if people remember seeing elephant perform stereotypies, rather than learning about the animals themselves.

We get quite a lot of students coming here and asking us to do surveys, but I'm not sure if that's a great idea.

We're generally not members of the general public who've been to zoos. We're zoo nerds who visit lots of different collections. You're going to get a very biased sample.

I went to three different collections with elephants last year, each was very different in terms of their herd and how it was managed.
 
Laurendd93 said:
Hi, I did state some stereotypical behaviours which I have researched, and on this specific forum I am trying to find out whether any of these have been seen by the public. In other research I am carrying out I am looking for other things.
Click to expand...

Perhaps,
But the way this survey is written it seems less like open research than a poll to prove a point.
I cannot participate in this
 
I understand that posting on this specific forum may make my results bias but I have posted it in several other places and as I stated above, this questionnaire is not the only research I am carrying out for my dissertation. This is just a small part which I am looking for to find out if people have seen any of the stated behaviours before.
 
Zooplantman said:
Perhaps,
But the way this survey is written it seems less like open research than a poll to prove a point.
I cannot participate in this
Click to expand...
I agree 100% with you on this and I will not be filling it out as a result as its a very un-balanced set of questions!!!!
 
May be you have decided the outcome before you polled the questions? what sort of organisation are you studying for this dissertation with? It could help your cause if you explained a little about yourself first unless you don't want zoo nerds to know to much
 
Hi, I really don't understand why people are getting so offended by my questionnaire! I've done several of these on different topics for my dissertation, also about wild behaviour, and for this one all I wanted to know was people's experiences viewing captive elephants in regards to some stereotypical behaviours. All I'm trying to do is gain as much proof as possible about if these behaviors have been common, to support the research I have already found about them.
 
I understand your objective, but non stereotypic behaviors in a captive situation would have provided a more balanced sample of evidence to compare with your wild elephant data.
Yes, I have seen elephants swaying, but that in no way encompasses the entirety of their behavioral diversity.
It definitely seems like an ARA slant.
 
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