We assessed potential seed dispersal of P. maideniana by spool-and-line tracking, and conducted captive-feeding trials with R. rattus and seeds and seedlings of both Pritchardia species.
But I was also torn, knowing that research conducted on captive orcas had helped me understand what I had seen in the wild.
Ethology is part natural history with an emphasis on fieldwork and part experimental science conducted on captive animals, reflecting the different styles of its two seminal figures, Konrad Lorenz and Niko Tinbergen (see Burkhardt 2005).
A study conducted on captive otters revealed they preferred larger fish, ranging from 15-17 cmoreore than smaller fish, ranging from 8-10 cm, and they had difficulty catching fish species less than 10 cm or larger than 17 cm.
A study conducted on captive wild elk in Alberta concluded that elk strongly react to predator odours, but observed significant variability in the reactions [61].
Our study is distinct from the above-mentioned ones in that we studied wild birds with a natural diet, whereas they were conducted on captive birds with controlled, often uniform and ad libitum, diets [except 59].
As well as having welfare consequences, if normal performance or behaviour used to assess welfare needs (such as choice tests) are detrimentally affected [27], there will be potential impacts on scientific interpretation for the numerous behavioural studies conducted on captive animals in artificially loud enclosures.
However, the study by Nikitopoulos and colleagues was conducted on captive animals, i.e. mating females were constantly visible to other group members so that the audience may have affected female calling behaviour (Townsend et al. 2008).
All these studies, however, have been conducted on captive ravens, whereas in the wild, they are thought to assemble in anonymous aggregations in which they have no affiliations until they are sexually mature and mate for life.
Both of these experimental studies were conducted with captive strains of pheasants, and our contrasting results in a wild bird species thus question the generality of these prior findings until there is more evidence from other species.
PMRD has been employed in a pilot study conducted with captive-takers in the FBI's Global Hostage-Taking Research and Analysis Project (GHosT-RAP).
