Primate Captive Welfare
While studying for a MRes at Durham University, I looked at welfare conditions of a captive group of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) maintained at Chester Zoo (UK).
To evaluate welfare behaviour is usually time consuming. I have therefore applyed (with Jan de Ruiter) the still new methodology of fractal analysis in a zoo setup. The work on mandrills at Chester Zoo has revealed itself an interdisciplinary project with Cultural Anthropology data, focusing on the social interactions between the mandrills and the zoo visitors. The main stressor agent in this sensitive species was identified as zoo visitors not taking care of a general required attitude to be adopted within the madrills' display area.
This work was awarded with a UFAW Wild Animal Welfare Award 2007 for the best innovations for zoo animal welfare and has appeared in the news: BBC, Reuters, Metro, ScienceDaily, etc.