The Effect of Structural Preferences,Temperature,and Social Factors on Visibility in Western Lowland Gorillas

Abstract

Postoccupancy evaluations are common in determining successful design elements in the human setting, but they are rarely employed in zoological parks. The current study evaluated how structural preferences, temperature, and social factors affected the visibility of four groups of gorillas to the public. Although the majority of structures were located in visible portions of the exhibit, structures had a negative effect on visibility because of the gorillas’ strong preference for a single typeof structure(buildings) located primarily in nonvisibleparts of theexhibits. Tem perature and visibility were linearly related, with increasing temperatures corresponding with decreasing visibility. The removal of an animal from the group significantly affected the visibility of the remaining group members. The authors’ results reinforce the need for exhibit designers to consider the relationships between animal behavior and environmental variables and to work with captive managers to create exhibits that meet the needs of individual animals.

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