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Behavioral repertoire assessment of Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris) with focus on thermoregulatory behavior

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Abstract

The behavioral repertoire and environmental feature needs for thermoregulatory comfort have not been reported in the literature for large captive exotics. An observational study was done to investigate the behavioral repertoire of tigers via continuous observation, while focusing on thermoregulatory behavior, in order to examine behavioral and thermoregulatory needs of these animals, and inform microclimatic landscape design for thermal comfort. Nine Bengal tigers (n = 6 females, n = 3 males) were observed in June 2012, and behavior data were recorded every minute, while thermal images of each individual, wind speed, ambient temperature, and relative humidity were recorded every 15 min. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data due to the observatory nature of the study. All tigers spent on average over 45% of the time lying down, less than 19% of the time in direct sunlight and over 20% of their time in the shade. Males did more panting (25.6%) than females (15.1%). There was more individual variation in water and cave usage, compared with shade use and lying behaviors, which could be related to social pressures or basic individual preferences. In summary, shade is a very valuable thermoregulatory resource for tigers. Adding more shade structures to increase thermal comfort and increase activity in these cats (around 10% on average active behaviors) by adding to the space available in the shaded areas.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Department of Animal Biosciences at the University of Guelph, Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL, and the tiger house staff of Jungala at Busch Gardens for facilitating the research. We also acknowledge the technical contribution of several undergraduate and other behavior and weather data recorders that made this work possible.

Funding

A portion of this work was funded by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship grant and the University of Guelph, Animal Biosciences department.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd. E, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada

    Judith A. Stryker, Jim L. Atkinson, J. Andy B. Robinson & Esther J. Finegan

  2. Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning, Texas A&M University, 400 Bizzell St., College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Robert D. Brown

  3. Toronto Zoo, 2000 Meadowvale Rd., Toronto, Ontario, M1B 5K7, Canada

    David Barney

  4. Busch Gardens, 10165 N McKinley Dr., Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Jay Duncan

Authors
  1. Judith A. Stryker
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  2. Jim L. Atkinson
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  3. Robert D. Brown
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  4. David Barney
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  5. J. Andy B. Robinson
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  6. Jay Duncan
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  7. Esther J. Finegan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Judith A. Stryker.

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All research was approved by the University of Guelph’s Animal Care Committee and the Research Review Committee at Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL.

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Online Resource 1

Average Ambient Temperature (°C) and average ambient vapor pressure (kPa), for all groups (G1, G2, G3) and days (D1, D2, D3) of observation. (PDF 255 kb)

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Stryker, J.A., Atkinson, J.L., Brown, R.D. et al. Behavioral repertoire assessment of Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris) with focus on thermoregulatory behavior. Int J Biometeorol 63, 1369–1379 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-019-01753-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-019-01753-7

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