The reintroduction of European bison (Bison bonasus) into the wild is one of few successful mammalian ones using captive-bred animals. Success of captive breeding programs depends on many aspects, where maintaining genetic diversity is crucial. However, other than genetic diversity, survivals of reintroduced animals depend largely on behaviour. Behavioural deficiencies in foraging, predator avoidance and habitat choice appear more frequently in animals that lack opportunities to associate with wild individuals in natural setting during critical learning periods and these behaviours are often critical for survival. Hence, despite comprehensive genetic management, populations may gradually become more adapted to captivity, as adaptations to barren, protected and unchallenging captive environments.

Studies have shown that rearing environments do influence behaviours and affect the success of the release of captive animals into the wild. One way to evaluate the environment’s influence on the behaviour is to observe the animal’s activity budget in different environments. By studying the activity budgets of wild animals and comparing their schedule with those of their captive counterparts, it is possible to determine whether the captive setting is conductive to the expression of species-typical behaviour.

Further, a way to provide environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological wellbeing is to use environmental enrichment. For animals in genetic conservation programs, enrichment should result from modifications to make the captive environment more similar to the environment where the animals are destined to be released. For this purpose different kinds of enrichments can be used depending on what kind of behaviour you want to stimulate.

The aims of my study

• How does the naturalistic enclosures differ from barren enclosures with regard to activity?
• How does the activity budget in captive European bison differ from European bisons in the wild?
• By providing feeding enrichment, do the different captive environments respond differently?