Comportamento exploratório de gatos domésticos (Felis silvestris catus Linnaeus, 1758) em cativeiro

Abstract

It is possible to understand exploratory behavior as a set of motor patterns aimed at reducing the uncertainty about the new environments and objects. How neophobic or neophilic exploratory responses tend to be, depend on the species, age, sexual, social characteristics and historical life of the animal. Food and odor stimuli appear to have significant effects on exploration for different groups of animals. For cats, knowledge on the exploratory behavior is still small and, given the significant growth in the number of cats in a confined environment, this study aimed to evaluate the exploratory behavior of domestic cats in captivity in response to food and odor stimuli. In the presence of food stimuli, it was possible to observe that few animals exhibited effective exploration and a strong dominance in the possession of the resource was observed too. The effectiveness of this technique for the few animals who have explored, however, was verified. Factors such as hierarchical position and individual differences in temperament were possible interferences in the results. For the odor stimulus, the results showed that the determinant factor for the exploration was the presence of the object, regardless of association with odor. Nevertheless, the latency to start exploration was lower in treatment with odor and females interacted much more when this stimulus was present. The behaviors "Smell the ground", "Rub on cube" and "Urine spray", were higher in treatment with the odor. The use of the cube in relation to the use of the ground was higher in both treatments. The posture "Standing" and behavior "look at other points", were also significant with or without odor associated. Some animals exhibited longer exploration than others, and differences in temperament and social issues are discussed as having influenced this result. Novelty, in form of food stimuli, presentation of new objects or presentation of odor stimuli, increased the exploratory behavior, although in both works possible individual differences of personality and hierarchy have been verified.