Carnivores: Provide live invertebrate prey, including in feeding devices
-
Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
-
Number of studies: 1
View assessment score
Hide assessment score
How is the evidence assessed?
-
Effectiveness
-
Certainty
-
Harms
Study locations
Supporting evidence from individual studies
A small replicated study in 1986 of fennec foxes Fennecus zerda in a zoo in the USA found that feeding live crickets increased explorative behaviours compared to meat being cut into smaller pieces, extra sand in the enclosure and less noise during cleaning. When fed live crickets, explorative behaviours increased (80 minutes/day) compared to the median of other conditions (40 minutes/day). Four fennec foxes housed in pairs were fed daily at 13:30 h on a commercial diet, fruit, eggs, fish bones and mealworms (only the two males’ data statistically analysed). Behaviours were assessed based on 24 hour video recordings during five to eight 10-day periods. The conditions included: 1) added sand, 2) provision of live crickets, 3) meat was cut into smaller pieces, and 4) no excessive noise made during cleaning. Behavioural categories included pacing, digging, exploring, burying food and resting/sleeping.
Study and other actions tested
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 AnimalsManagement of Captive Animals - Published 2018
Captive Animal Synopsis