Behavior and welfare of an all-male band of captive Gelada monkeys (<em>Theropithecus gelada</em>): A comparison with other populations and implications for management

Environmental stimuli unique to zoo environments may negatively impact animal wellbeing. Despite numerous studies on captive primates, relatively few have focused on gelada monkeys (Theropithecus gelada), particularly all-male bachelor groups, which pose unique social and management challenges. To address this gap, we collected data on grooming patterns, activity budgets, enclosure use, responses to zoo visitors, and stress-related behaviors in a six-member bachelor group of geladas at the San Diego Zoo (SDZ), comparing them to both captive and wild populations. Our study revealed that the geladas segregated themselves into two distinct subgroups. Further, each individual male had one primary social partner with whom he engaged in all (or nearly all) of his affiliative behavior. Geladas spent more time on rocky substrates and less time on grassy areas than expected based on their availability. They exhibited no abnormal behaviors and were unresponsive to visitors attempting to disturb t..., Data Collection B.C. collected 120 hours of behavioral data from June 2021 to January 2022. Over this period, mean temperature was 21.9°C (+3.2) and 114.05 mm of rain fell (San Diego International Airport weather station, weather.gov). Observations took place between 9:00 and 20:00 on 45 different observation days and data were collected as evenly as possible across all time intervals. Instantaneous scan samples (Altmann 1974) were conducted at 10-minute intervals to record the number of visitors present at each of the three viewing areas, the location within the enclosure and substrate occupied by each individual, and the first behavior lasting &gt;3 seconds for all visible individuals. Behaviors were recorded as feeding, resting, moving, allogrooming, self-grooming, stress-related behaviors, and other (Table 2). A total of 4,320 scans were conducted, with at least one individual not being visible during 646 of the scans. During the first 13 hours of data collection, individuals could ..., , # Behavior and welfare of an all-male band of captive Gelada monkeys (*Theropithecus gelada*): A comparison with other populations and implications for management ### **GeladaDataSpringer.csv** * *Date:* Date of the recorded observation in month/day/year format. * *Time:* Time of the recorded observation. * *Individual:* Names of all six adult male geladas at the San Diego Zoo. This includes the numbers 1-6 which correspond to the six adult male geladas before individual identification was possible, and the names of all six adult male geladas once they could be identified (Mahbub, Diwani, Juma, Valentino, Saburi, and Abasi). * *Behavior:* The behavior each individual gelada was performing at the time of data collection. * *Visitors:* The total number of zoo visitors that were within sight of an individual gelada at the time of data collection. * *Substrate:* The category of flooring that upon which each individual gelada occupied at the time of data collection. * *Area:* The enclosur...,