DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w9ghx3g0c
title: Behavior and welfare of an all-male band of captive Gelada monkeys (<em>Theropithecus gelada</em>): A comparison with other populations and implications for management

description: Environmental stimuli unique to zoo environments may negatively impact
 animal wellbeing. Despite numerous studies on captive primates, relatively
 few have focused on gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada), particularly
 all-male bachelor groups, which pose unique social and management
 challenges. To address this gap, we collected data on grooming patterns,
 activity budgets, enclosure use, responses to zoo visitors, and
 stress-related behaviors in a six-member bachelor group of geladas at the
 San Diego Zoo (SDZ), comparing them to both captive and wild populations.
 Our study revealed that the geladas segregated themselves into two
 distinct subgroups. Further, each individual male had one primary social
 partner with whom he engaged in all (or nearly all) of his affiliative
 behavior. Geladas spent more time on rocky substrates and less time on
 grassy areas than expected based on their availability. They exhibited no
 abnormal behaviors and were unresponsive to visitors attempting to disturb
 them. Their proportion of time spent feeding and grooming resembled those
 of wild geladas, though they were much more sedentary. We recommend future
 husbandry efforts focus on promoting more physical activity and complex
 foraging tasks, such as harvesting underground food and capturing mobile
 invertebrates. Overall, this study offers insights into how the behavior
 of geladas at SDZ compares to that of other captive and wild populations,
 offering insights into the exhibit design and management practices that
 promote quality wellbeing in captive primates.
description: <strong>Data Collection</strong>
 B.C. collected 120 hours of behavioral data from June 2021 to
 January 2022. Over this period, mean temperature was 21.9°C (+3.2) and
 114.05 mm of rain fell (San Diego International Airport weather station,
 weather.gov). Observations took place between 9:00 and 20:00 on 45
 different observation days and data were collected as evenly as possible
 across all time intervals. Instantaneous scan samples (Altmann 1974) were
 conducted at 10-minute intervals to record the number of visitors present
 at each of the three viewing areas, the location within the enclosure and
 substrate occupied by each individual, and the first behavior lasting
 &gt;3 seconds for all visible individuals. Behaviors were recorded as
 feeding, resting, moving, allogrooming, self-grooming, stress-related
 behaviors, and other (Table 2). A total of 4,320 scans were conducted,
 with at least one individual not being visible during 646 of the scans.
 During the first 13 hours of data collection, individuals could not yet be
 reliably identified; therefore, these observations were included only in
 analyses of individual activity budgets and grooming (Table 3). In
 addition to scan sampling for behavior, we used all-occurrence sampling to
 note any incidences of stress-related or agonistic behaviors among the
 geladas. Towards the end of the study, we also decided
 to collect data on zoo visitor behavior, to preliminarily assess whether
 visitors might influence gelada behavior or activity budgets. Therefore,
 data on the frequency of disturbances by zoo guests were collected during
 a subset of 10 study hours and were categorized as either vocal (e.g.,
 yelling, whistling) or physical (e.g., banging on glass), similar to
 Sherwen et al. (2015) and Birke (2002). Between each scan, visitor
 behavior was continuously observed from a single designated viewing area,
 subsequently rotating between each viewing area to ensure complete
 coverage. Disturbances were recorded only when visitors actively sought
 the geladas' attention; undirected disturbances were excluded. Each
 disturbance was recorded if it occurred &gt;5 seconds apart, and
 gelada reactions were observed for up to 5 seconds. This study was
 approved by Dean Gibson, Curator of Primates at the San Diego Zoo, and
 conducted solely through observational methods, without any direct animal
 contact.
description: # Behavior and welfare of an all-male band of captive Gelada monkeys
 (*Theropithecus gelada*): A comparison with other populations and
 implications for management ### **GeladaDataSpringer.csv** * *Date:* Date
 of the recorded observation in month/day/year format. * *Time:* Time of
 the recorded observation. * *Individual:* Names of all six adult male
 geladas at the San Diego Zoo. This includes the numbers 1-6 which
 correspond to the six adult male geladas before individual identification
 was possible, and the names of all six adult male geladas once they could
 be identified (Mahbub, Diwani, Juma, Valentino, Saburi, and Abasi). *
 *Behavior:* The behavior each individual gelada was performing at the time
 of data collection. * *Visitors:* The total number of zoo visitors that
 were within sight of an individual gelada at the time of data collection.
 * *Substrate:* The category of flooring that upon which each individual
 gelada occupied at the time of data collection. * *Area:* The enclosure
 section that each individual gelada occupied at the time of data
 collection. These include: Back: Back of the enclosure, Cave CC: Caves on
 the close cliff, Cave FC: Caves on the far cliff,  CC: Close cliff, FC:
 Far cliff, V1C: Viewing area 1 Close, V1F: Viewing area 1 far, V2: Viewing
 area 2, V3C: Viewing area 3 close, V3F: Viewing area 3 far. See
 publication for visual representation of enclosure areas (Fig. 1).  *
 *Weather:* The climatic conditions at the time of data collection. *
 *Temperature:* The temperature at the time of data collection recorded in
 Celsius. * *Enclosure:* **Original:** The main enclosure that the adult
 male gelada monkeys at the San Diego Zoo lived in during the majority of
 the study period. **Second enclosure:** An enclosure that was located
 adjacent to the original enclosure, where the gelada monkeys were held for
 several days while the original enclosure was undergoing maintenance.