Behavioral Welfare Research for the Management of Sanctuary Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Simple Summary: This manuscript details seven different types of behavioral metrics utilized at Chimp Haven to monitor the welfare of the chimpanzees. Each metric focuses on a different aspect of chimpanzee behavior and well-being. Chimp Haven monitors the chimpanzees' social behavior via wounding reports, Nearest Night Neighbor proximities, behavioral time budgets, and shifting logs. Individual chimpanzee welfare is monitored via hair loss and wellness surveys as well as targeted individual assessments for abnormal behavior and individual logs on a chimpanzee's progress in our positive reinforcement training program. The metrics provided here may provide a framework for various types of objective and simple data collection for other animal organizations. Chimp Haven is a sanctuary for chimpanzees retired from biomedical research, rescued from the pet trade, or re-homed after other organizations could no longer care for them. To provide optimal care for over 300 chimpanzees, Chimp Haven's animal care team includes experts in behavioral science, veterinary treatment, and husbandry practices. To aid these teams in making routine welfare management decisions, a system of behavioral metrics provides objective data to guide decisions and track outcomes. Chimp Haven has built and piloted seven behavioral metric protocols over the past 5 years to provide staff with an objective and comprehensive picture of the chimpanzees' behavioral welfare. The data from behavioral observations, staff surveys, and routine staff documentation are analyzed and processed through Google Forms, ZooMonitor, Microsoft Power Bi, Microsoft Excel, and R. Each metric assists staff in making data-based decisions regarding the management of captive chimpanzees related to abnormal behavior, hair loss, wounding, social relationships, positive reinforcement training and overall wellness. In this article, we explore examples of each metric and how they have been utilized to monitor and make decisions for both social groups of chimpanzees as well as individuals. These metrics can be collected and shared easily in an understandable format, which may provide an important framework for others to follow to enable the tracking of welfare for other sanctuaries, non-human primates, as well as other species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]