Primates: Provide live vegetation in planters for foraging

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

80%
Certainty

30%
Harms

0%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Ground cover is important in enclosure design for primates in captivity. This is especially so for species which forage at ground level. Live plant cover aims to encourage natural food items, such as insects, into the enclosures to increase foraging levels.

Study locations

Key messages

One replicated, before-and-after study in the USA reported that chimpanzees spent more time foraging when provided with planted rye grass and scattered sunflower seeds compared to browse and grass added to the enclosure with their normal diet.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A replicated, before-and-after study in 1991 in the USA (Lambeth & Bloomsmith 1994) reported that chimpanzees Pan troglodytes, provided with a foraging device containing planted rye grass and scattered sunflower seeds, spent more time foraging, compared to a feeder containing just grass, with browse added to the enclosure as their normal diet throughout, although no statistical tests were carried out. Chimpanzees foraging behaviour increased from an average of 2% when the feeder contained grass to 12% when the container contained grass with sunflower seeds. PVC pipe cut in half lengthwise and planted with rye grass seed was attached to the outside of six different enclosures containing two or four out of the 14 chimpanzees observed in the study. All chimpanzees in all six enclosures were then given sunflower seeds added to the grass. Behavioural observations over 54 hours were conducted under the two conditions: grass container alone and grass container with scattered sunflower seeds. (CJ)
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Lambeth S.P. & Bloomsmith M.A. (1994) A grass foraging device for captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Animal Welfare, 3, 13-24.

Please cite as:

Jonas, C.S., Timbrell, L.L., Young, F., Petrovan, S.O., Bowkett, A.E. & Smith, R.K. (2020) Management of Captive Animals. Pages 527-553 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Management of Captive Animals

Related Actions

Actions	Effectiveness	Studies	Category
Primates: Present food items whole instead of processed Action Link	Likely to be beneficial	1	Synopsis Link
Primates: Hide food in containers (including boxes and bags) Action Link	Likely to be beneficial	2	Synopsis Link
Primates: Present food which requires the use (or modification) of tools Action Link	No evidence found (no assessment)	0	Synopsis Link