Efeitos de longo prazo de um treinamento para soltura de soltura de papagaios-do-peito-roxo (Amazona vinacea) cativos

Abstract

Many efforts have been applied to develop new techniques and protocols that guarantee higher rates of survival in translocation programs with parrots. The use of prerelease training is an essential step to reach this goal and flight and human aversion training have shown to be effective in eliciting adequate behavioral responses for the release of parrots, in the short term. It is not known, however, if these conditioned behavioral responses are sustained in the long term. Thus, this study aimed to assess the behavioral responses of captive Vinaceous-breasted Amazon parrots (Amazona vinacea), that underwent a pre-release training protocol, after six months without training. Ten adults (6 males and 4 females) Vinaceous-breasted Amazon parrots were evaluated. These animals were kept under the care of IBAMA/IEF Juiz de Fora, MG. Flight and human aversion training were applied during a period of 10 weeks, from May to July 2021. Two types of tests were used to assess the flight capacity and the human aversion of the parrots, the Flight Capacity Test (FCT) and the Food Offer Test (FOT). The animals were graded with scores from 1 to 4 in the FCT and from 1 to 3 in the FOT, with the lowest scores indicating worse flight capacity and more food acceptance, and with the highest scores indicating better flight capacity and less food acceptance. During the training, four FCT and FOT evaluations were conducted: 1st – previously to training (baseline); 2nd – 2 weeks of training; 3rd – 6 weeks; and 4th – 10 weeks (end of training). Six months after the end of the training, two additional evaluations were conducted (5th and 6th) with a 15 days interval between each other, to evaluate if the effects of the training could persist in the long term. For the statistical analyses, it was used the Friedman Test and the Generalized Linear Mixed Models. The animals showed a decrease in FCT score, as well as FOT score after 6 months without training, however they did not get back to the original condition (baseline). The mean of the FCT scores was lower in the 5th than in the 6th evaluation. Similarly, the mean of the FOT scores diminished in the 5th if compared to the 4th evaluation. In the 6th evaluation, however, this mean went back to the same value registered in the 4th. There were no significant differences between evaluations for the time spent flying and the latency to flight. It is possible to conclude that the behavioral responses elicited by the pre-released conditioning training are stronger in the short term, however, in the long term, these responses tend to weaken. The results show that behavioral responses weaken with time, highlighting the need for sporadic training, or even a shorter time in captivity after the use of a pre-release protocol.