Small Ruminants

AnS 490-H: Part II; How to Educate the Public While Providing a Portable Environmentally Enriched Wagon to a North American Porcupine

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Abstract

The objective of this project was to determine if a portable environmentally enriched wagon provided a North American Porcupine with the ability to express natural behaviors during a formal educational presentation at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. The study was broken up into three phases: baseline, habituation, and public. One researcher recorded all phases on a video camera in color at 30 frames per second. All information will be presented descriptively. Time on educational presentation: The average time during baseline was ~13 minutes. Once the wagon was introduced, the average formal educational presentation length increased to ~19 minutes (public). In conclusion, the portable environmentally enriched wagon maintained Clover’s interest and it resulted in a richer behavioral repertoire that the general public were able to see during the finalized education presentations.

How to Cite:

Deal, M. & Johnson, A. K., (2018) “AnS 490-H: Part II; How to Educate the Public While Providing a Portable Environmentally Enriched Wagon to a North American Porcupine”, Iowa State University Animal Industry Report 15(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/ans_air-180814-381