Study animal
- Four Golden Lion Tamarins that housed on the north side of the zoo were observed. This family is the founder family group and consists on the founder breeding pair and two of their offsprings.
Animal exhibit size
- The enclosure of GLT at Micke Grove Zoo was made of wire mesh with 0.025 x 0.025 m2 grids and wooden wall on the back. The enclosure was approximately 80m3 (5 m (L) x 4 m (W) x 4m (H)).
Behavioral methodology
- Eight captive Golden Lion Tamarin (GLT) housed in two enclosures at Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi, California observed to conduct a space use study. Nine students in research group observed the utilization of enclosed space by both GLT family groups for a total of 50 hours per week. The observers recorded where each of the GLT family groups were located every minute using instantaneous scan for all individual within the group (Martin & Bateson 1994). The observers scanned the enclosure from the left to right recording the location of each GLT seen. The sampling period was for 50 minutes and 10 minutes break immediately after each sampling period. Observers recorded the utilization of enclosure space by these animals for four sampling periods per day (total of 4 hours including break after each sampling period). Utilization of space of GLT was documented during the following sampling periods: 8:00 to 12:00, 11:00 h to 15:00 h, and 13:00 to 17:00 h.
Categories of segregated space in the primate enclosures:
Ø Wood: All wooden structures within both primate enclosures such as tree trunks and branches, vines, wooden nesting boxes, and wooden platforms would fall into this category
Ø Wire: enclosure mesh that the primates use to climb to the roof of their enclosure
Ø Wooden wall: the wooden and building walls that form the rear portion of the enclosure.
Ø Foliage: both enclosures consist of a small tree or two. The canopies of these trees will fall into this category
Ø Next to food bowl: areas around food bowls and feeding enrichment devices will fill this classification
Ø Floor: when primates are observed on the substrate, floor will be recorded as the location
Ø Bedroom: the on-exhibit enclosure is connected to an indoor off-exhibit enclosure. The interconnecting door is left open that provides GLT with a permanent access to the indoor enclosure. When the GLT enter their indoor off-exhibit enclosure, this location will be recorded.
Data analyses
- The data recorded using instantaneous scanning was expressed as a proportion of time spent in the locations listed above. Recorded data for the four family members were combined at the end of the observation period to obtain group averages for each family group to maintain social independence of data points. The combined data was used for analyses.