Stereotypies in captive animals have been defined as repetitive,
invariant patterns of behavior that serve no obvious goal or
function. Stereotypies are commonly attributed to boredom or
stress, and are typically "treated" with environmental enrichment.
These enrichment items often includes food presented at times other
than regular feedings. This thesis applies a "foraging loop"
hypothesis to the behaviors of contrasting species of marine mammal
carnivores; polar bears and walruses. Polar bears in the wild spend
the majority of each day traveling to locate prey; captive polar
bears spend several hours a day in locomotor stereotypies preceding
a large feed. In contrast, walruses in the wild graze in beds of
mollusks on the ocean floor, using their flippers, vibrissae, and
mouths to locate and consume mollusks. Captive walruses spend the
majority of their day circle swimming, mouthing, and sucking
inedible objects in their enclosure. The results of six experiments
allowed us to conclude that both species' stereotypies were
attempts to forage in their captive environment, and that allowing
these animals to forage in a species-typical manner effectively
decreased those stereotypies.
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