Lisa M. Riley

• Doctor of Philosophy Chimpanzee cognition and enrichment
• Lecturer at University of Winchester

Good mental and physical health go hand-in-hand when identifying factors that lead people to experience a better overall quality of life. A growing disconnect to the natural world is worsening the mental health of individuals in many societies. Numerous scientific publications have evidenced that being in nature and access to green and blue spaces...

Modern zoos and aquariums have evolved greatly since the end of the Second World War, to become centres of conservation excellence and scientific institutions for the study of animal behaviour, ecology, husbandry management. Whilst the impact of zoos and aquariums to biodiversity conservation, population management and advancement of species care i...

The study of animal behaviour is important for the development of husbandry and management practices for zoo-housed species. Yet, data are typically only collected during daylight hours, aligning with human work schedules rather than animal activity patterns. To remedy this, 24 h data collection is needed. This study investigated the behaviour of a...

Zoos and aquariums have an enormous global reach and hence an ability to craft meaningful conservation action for threatened species, implement educational strategies to encourage human engagement, development and behavior change, and conduct scientific research to enhance the husbandry, roles and impacts of the living collection. The recreational...

Domestic pet dogs typically spend a large amount of time inside the home environment, including hours alone. An audio/food dispensing automated device (an artificial agent, hereafter agent) was evaluated for enrichment potential. The agent issued owner-spoken verbal cues to dogs, and food rewards for correct behavioural responses. The dogs’ welfare...

Behavioural research in zoos is commonplace and is used in the diagnosis and treatment of potential husbandry and management challenges. Robust methods that allow valid data collection and analysis constitute an evidence-based approach to animal care. Understanding behaviour is essential to improving animal management, and behavioural research is t...

Background Clinical canine massage involves muscle tissue manipulation and fascial release techniques to rehabilitate injured soft tissues. Quantitative efficacy data are lacking. This cross‐sectional study aimed to determine how dogs respond to canine massage therapy practiced by Canine Massage Guild UK practitioners. Methods In 2018, case notes...

Results are presented from a survey of zoo keeper opinions on the abnormal behaviour they have observed in the primates they care for.

The application and output of zoo science has expanded in scope and ambition over the past decade. With calls for a more evidence-based approach being heeded by the research community to generate data relevant to best practice care for captive wild animals. To determine the scope of research conducted using zoo-housed species, we systematically rev...

Exotic rodents are becoming increasingly popular in industry, however, there is limited empirical evidence to guide husbandry practices. African pygmy dormice (Graphiurus murinus) are typical in this respect. This research aimed to determine the effect of environmental enrichment on the behavior (including stereotypical scratching at the glass wall...

Human-canine communication technology for the home-alone domestic dog is in its infancy. Many criteria need to be fulfilled in order for successful communication to be achieved remotely via artificial agents. Notably, the dogs’ capacity for correct behavioural responses to unimodal verbal cues is of primary consideration. Previous studies of verbal...

Zoological institutions have come a long way over the past 20 years in their measurement and evaluation of animal behaviour and welfare. Environments that enable the performance of biologically relevant activity patterns, which increase behavioural diversity and ensure appetitive behaviours can be completed in full, are commonplace in zoos globally...

Zoos are evidencing a shift in great ape diets to cultivated fruit-free diets with more wild-type nutritional compositions (lower sugar, higher fibre). Traditional feeding methods continue to be scrutinised however free-foraging remains rare in captivity. As a result, this study aimed to ascertain great ape keeper knowledge and opinions on the remo...

The modern zoo's roles command empirical enquiry to determine the effectiveness of zoos locally and globally. Ten years ago, published work identified the need for empirical research on a diverse range of species beyond charismatic zoo megafauna. We review zoo-based research published in the decade since this original recommendation. We collectivel...

The field of zoo animal welfare science has advanced rapidly over the past decade, with more research being presented on the need for individual animal welfare assessment, for consideration of animal-based as well as resource-based approaches, and to consider measuring welfare in a meaningful and ecologically-valid manner. Methods used in the domes...

Most behavioural research on captive wild animals takes place during daylight hours, meaning a wealth of data on their complete daily time-activity patterns are being missed. As zoos continue to develop an evidence-based approach to husbandry, such data are especially important for species with nocturnal behavioural performance. One such animal...

Social media is a 21 st Century phenomenon and its use extends the outreach of scientific, conservation and educational organisations into the lives of interested (and potentially interested) parties more than ever before. When used well, social media can have a positive impact on public awareness of current, important issues, and can be a useful t...

Modern zoos aim to conserve biodiversity via in situ and ex situ conservation, emphasising their commitment to conservation in their mission statements. While industry bodies strongly encourage conservation, it is typically not a legal requirement. Zoos are criticised for housing charismatic, not conservation-critical, species that bring visitors t...

In this response, we show how the points raised in Rose et al. (2017) are relevant across taxa. The original article reviewed literature on 3 basic “groups” of animal, with a specific remit of identifying welfare needs within these groups. The focus of this article did not intend to exclude other types of animal but to show the extent of research n...

Performance of Abnormal Repetitive Behavior (ARB) is noted in many captive wild species. ARB can be categorized into two basic forms; those whose aim appears to be to compulsively reach an inappropriate goal, and those whose performance is linked to an inappropriate motor function. While the negative welfare connotations of ARBs are well-known, the...

Poster Presentation on the diet of captive lemurs presented at the 2015 Marwell Nutrition Seminar M