Setting Goals for an Enrichment Program: Is Scan Sampling Effective for a Preliminary Description of the Social Structure in a Group of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)?

Environmental enrichment is vital for captive animal welfare and should be integrated into tailored action programs. Setting objectives requires information on time use, enclosure use, and social compatibility. While activity and space are commonly assessed through instantaneous scan sampling, social relationships usually demand time-consuming focal sampling of affiliative or agonistic interactions. Since scan sampling also records social behavior, it raises the question of whether this method could offer a quicker yet reliable way to evaluate social relationships within groups. We studied grooming exchanges in a zoo-housed chimpanzee group, comparing social structures from scan and focal sampling. Results showed scan sampling yielded estimates of grooming similar to focal sampling. By reducing data collection time, scan sampling streamlines early enrichment program stages, enabling faster diagnosis of group dynamics and more efficient establishment of enrichment objectives, thus supporting animal welfare without compromising data quality.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science

• Publication date

  2025-09-04

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1080/10888705.2025.2555269PMID 40905726
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Bored at home?—A systematic review on the effect of environmental enrichment on the welfare of laboratory rats and mice

  2022cited by this paper
• Environmental enrichment increases aquatic animal welfare: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

  2021cited by this paper
• The effects of alpha male removal on the social behavior of a group of olive baboons (Papio anubis)

  2021cited by this paper
• Evaluation of social compatibility in an all-male group of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) by means of social network analysis.

  2021cited by this paper
• Review of environmental enrichment for broiler chickens.

  2018cited by this paper
• What is the best way to estimate vigilance? A comparison of two methods for Gunnison's prairie dogs, Cynomys gunnisoni

  2016cited by this paper
• Putting the “E” in SPIDER: Evolving Trends in the Evaluation of Environmental Enrichment Efficacy in Zoological Settings

  2015cited by this paper
• The importance of enrichment for advancing amphibian welfare and conservation goals: A review of a neglected topic

  2014cited by this paper
• A Comparison of Scan and Focal Sampling for the Description of Wild Primate Activity, Diet and Intragroup Spatial Relationships

  2013cited by this paper
• Do naturalistic enclosures provide suitable environments for zoo animals?

  2012cited by this paper
• Does Environmental Enrichment Reduce Stress? An Integrated Measure of Corticosterone from Feathers Provides a Novel Perspective

  2011cited by this paper
• A Direct Comparison of Scan and Focal Sampling Methods for Measuring Wild Chimpanzee Feeding Behaviour

  2010cited by this paper
• Factors affecting wounding aggression in a colony of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

  2009cited by this paper
• Social compatibility in a newly formed all-male group of white crowned mangabeys (Cercocebus atys lunulatus).

  2007cited by this paper
• Meta-analytic review of the effects of enrichment on stereotypic behavior in zoo mammals

  2006cited by this paper
• Scan and focal sampling: reliability in the laterality for maternal cradling and infant nipple preferences in olive baboons, Papio anubis

  2002cited by this paper
• Philosophy of environmental enrichment: Past, present, and future

  2001cited by this paper
• Measuring agreement in method comparison studies

  1999cited by this paper
• Ethogram and Ethnography of Mahale Chimpanzees

  1999cited by this paper
• The modern zoo: How do people perceive zoo animals?

  1996cited by this paper
• Effects of environmental enrichment on reproduction

  1994cited by this paper
• Behavioral sampling in the field: Comparison of individual and group sampling methods

  1992cited by this paper
• Guidelines for developing and managing an environmental enrichment program for nonhuman primates.

  1991cited by this paper
• A model of social grooming among adult female monkeys.

  1977cited by this paper
• A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales

  1960cited by this paper
• Measuring Behaviour

  year unknowncited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.