how do ratels normally behave in captivity? (I've never seen one, so a genuine question). In the wild I think they travel quite some distance each night, basically walking till they happen across food.
Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park News 2012
- Thread starter Jordan-Jaguar97
- Start date
Well,for a small mammal Tyson has a largish enclosure which he tends to trot around using the same track-this isnt neccesarily stereotypic but does rather back up the roaming hunter theory of an indiscriminate carnivore[some would say omnivore]- on the other hand ive seen the species in a smallish nocturnal house habitat at Arabias Wildlife Centre behaving less repititously.I supect that in the wild,like virtually every other species, if food is more readily available it will move around less.Take the home ranges of Amur Tigers and Bengal Tigers for instance.
I was going to add the last bit but didn't- they do travel long distances over the Plains. I've only ever seen them at Howletts (in captivity that is, I have seen them wild in S.Africa also)- sometimes invisible/asleep, sometimes just resting, other times trotting around as above. As an active animal that travels long distancs in the wild, I would think they suffer some stress from being kept in a confined space.
My statement was to underline that I appreciated a breeding companion had arrived for the lone ratel at Howletts. Besides, I am loath to anthropomorphic statements ...! 
I would love to see more zoos getting ratels (in association with porcupines, dassies, aardvarks and springhaas ... oh and galagos / bushbabies in a savannah / forest setting.
I would love to see more zoos getting ratels (in association with porcupines, dassies, aardvarks and springhaas ... oh and galagos / bushbabies in a savannah / forest setting.
johnstoni.
Well-Known Member
What was 'Tyson' like at Edinburgh? Did he pace there?
Interesting, the ratel enclosure at Port Lympne is, or was (it held meerkats for a while but I guess is now off-exhibit, is it even still there?) slightly smaller than the Howlett's enclosure, and without any vantage points (I've no idea if visual stimulation of this kind is important to ratel in captivity), but in a very quiet area of the park and, while essentially a shallow pit, very sheltered as it contained a scrubby copse of I think hawthorn trees and other bushes. I never saw the ratel pacing at Port Lympne, although 'paths' were visible.
It would be easy to make the assumption that the animals at Howletts/PL were quite old when I saw them, and so were less active, but of course they had to be young once and so you would assume the same enclosure at Howletts would have generated similar stereotyped behaviour. However, I think back to the 'Echo of the Wild' documentary, (for those who haven't already seen, see link below, 3:30)and the then young ratel (I guess 1.1), and what appears to have been their hand-raised cubs (the only UK breeding to date AFAIK), it seems possible that those humanised individuals were potentially calmer and more able to cope with stimulation/enrichment than perhaps the conventionally-managed Tyson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfIHGxDGGa8
Interesting, the ratel enclosure at Port Lympne is, or was (it held meerkats for a while but I guess is now off-exhibit, is it even still there?) slightly smaller than the Howlett's enclosure, and without any vantage points (I've no idea if visual stimulation of this kind is important to ratel in captivity), but in a very quiet area of the park and, while essentially a shallow pit, very sheltered as it contained a scrubby copse of I think hawthorn trees and other bushes. I never saw the ratel pacing at Port Lympne, although 'paths' were visible.
It would be easy to make the assumption that the animals at Howletts/PL were quite old when I saw them, and so were less active, but of course they had to be young once and so you would assume the same enclosure at Howletts would have generated similar stereotyped behaviour. However, I think back to the 'Echo of the Wild' documentary, (for those who haven't already seen, see link below, 3:30)and the then young ratel (I guess 1.1), and what appears to have been their hand-raised cubs (the only UK breeding to date AFAIK), it seems possible that those humanised individuals were potentially calmer and more able to cope with stimulation/enrichment than perhaps the conventionally-managed Tyson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfIHGxDGGa8
Never succeeded in seeing him there, but from conversations on the subject with keepers, I believe he was constantly active and exploring his enclosure, much as at Howlett's.
ageruff
Active Member
I am sorry I did realise one had to be an expert in animal behavior to comment of the these threads. I will keep my anthropomorphic comments to myself in future except to say I was very pleased to see Tyson with his new mate when I visited and he appeared much more settled in my human minds eye.
mazfc
Well-Known Member
Don't let one member put you off commenting. Say what you want to, how you want to. Personally I anthropomorphise here, there and everywhere, comes from reading terry pratchett I think
