Animal Behaviour

The study of animal behaviour, also known as ethology, plays an important role in achieving Chester Zoo’s mission of conserving biodiversity worldwide.

The first step to conserving biodiversity is to understand the biology of the species. Behavioural research can further our understanding of how animals are affected by the captive environment, to aid breeding programmes, ensure high standards of animal husbandry and welfare, and to manage health and disease risk. Furthermore, knowledge and understanding of the behaviour of many species have come from captive populations, due to these species being difficult to study in their natural habitat.

Animal behaviour research needs to be systematic, hypothesis-driven and incorporate appropriate controls in order to record accurate and reliable data - it’s not simply a case of watching and writing down what an animal does! Collecting behavioural data can involve many hours of observations, which demand attention to detail and the full concentration of the researcher.

Measuring behaviour is a skill to be developed, once a basic knowledge of the species has been gained and the potential limitations of the methods are understood. Information and practical advice on how to set up a behavioural research project in a zoo can be found in the Zoo Research Guidelines series of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA), which can be downloaded for free from the BIAZA website.

Here at Chester Zoo, behavioural research is overseen by a full-time Research Officer, who has postgraduate training in both applied ethology and biological anthropology. The Research Officer is supported by a Research Assistant, who also specialises in applied ethology. Behavioural research, conducted by external researchers as well as zoo staff, covers a wide range of topics, including social development and behaviour, visitor effects, animal personality, environmental enrichment, behavioural abnormalities and breeding behaviour.

If you are interested in conducting a research project at Chester Zoo, please click here to find out more.