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During my Gap Year I began work at
a lion breeding programme in Zimbabwe which involved long
hours and hard work but it was intensely rewarding and left
a lasting influence on me! This work involved hand rearing 2
sets of cubs aged 1 month and 3 months getting up for their
first feed at 6am and giving them their fourth and final
feed at 6pm.
The work at the breeding program
rekindled a dream to work with animals and so when I started
my Psychology degree at Stirling University I made the
decision to focus my efforts on getting as much experience
in working with animals as possible.
I spent 3 weeks collecting data on
the two adult Amur tigers, who had just had three cubs and
the polar bear at Edinburgh zoo. In my second year I took a
core module in animal behaviour which involved conducting a
group research project and writing it up. With this
experience behind me I began to plan my first research
project.
I focused on enrichment, a brand of
animal welfare that seeks to improve the wellbeing of
captive animals. As the feeding of live prey to captive
carnivores is neither ethical nor legal in the UK many
researchers have attempted to provide realistic alternatives
through the introduction of some ingenious enrichment
devices.
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My research therefore aimed to
provide answers to these potential limitations with the
Lionrover, a purpose built remote-controlled armoured car,
which aimed to promote species typical behaviour by
providing a realistic alternative to live prey and to
encourage positive behaviours outside of device
presentations. We gave it a zebra stripe design to remove
the unnatural look of the shiny aluminium.
The Lionrover was designed and
built from scratch by Adam Gershel-Clarke of the University
of Brighton. It weighed 15kg allowing it to be carried by a
single person and the dimensions allowed it to fit
underneath the keepers’ jeep. Using a lightweight
aluminium shell supported by an internal steel frame allows
the carnivores to do cosmetic damage to the outside of the
Lionrover without harming themselves and protecting the
internal mechanisms.
Due to the problems with the
components a second Lionrover is now under construction with
design improvements under consideration, including using
wheelchair parts in order to increase the reliability of the
device. Wooden wheels will be used as well as making
improvements to the aerial design in order that the device
can be left in the enclosure until the study animals move to
their overnight quarters.
I would like to
