Rhino Husbandry Manual
Rhino Estrus Tracking
Instructions for Rhinoceros Estrus Record-Keeping System (San Diego Zoo Safari Park)
Each day the person or persons that spend the most time working with the rhinos should fill out an estrus data sheet for each female >2 years old in the collection. These “observers” need not spend an excessive amount of time simply observing the rhinos. Rather, during the course of their daily routine, they should make a note of the occurrence of any behaviors related to estrus or courtship. At the end of the day, they should record these observations on the datasheet provided. Two datasheets cover a month period.
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Header Information
Please fill out the header information at the top of each datasheet. For “Avg. observation time” estimate the number of hours that the observers have visual access to the rhinos each day.
Behavior Scoring Scale
• Note that all behaviors with male (M) apply only to fully adult males (>5 yr old).
• The scale for frequency of occurrence of behaviors is from 0 to 3, in increments of 0.5.
• If a particular behavior or condition was not observed that day, despite a “normal effort” to observe that animal, record a “0.” If a behavior/condition occurs infrequently, record a “1.” For example, if the appetite is a little decreased, the vulva are a little more swollen, or an occasional hiccing approach is seen, record a “1.” Record a “2” if the behavioral changes are moderately elevated (or decreased in the case of appetite), and a “3” if they are dramatically elevated, that is, close to the maximum you have observed for this behavior/condition.
• If you do not know whether a particular behavior or condition was present because of insufficient observation time (i.e., less than normal), do not guess. Leave it blank for that entry to indicate that you do not know. “0’s” and blanks mean something very different.
• If it was impossible for a particular behavior or condition to occur on that day, record a “X” for that entry. For example, if a female was not housed with a male, she would not be capable of showing any interest in a male, and males would not be capable of showing any interest in her.
• Guidelines for ranking female interest in male:
0 = female shows little or no interest in being near or interacting with the male(s)
1 = female is more tolerant of male’s proximity, allowing him to approach and interact
2 = female even more tolerant of male’s proximity and may approach, follow and make contact with the male more frequently
3 = female very tolerant of male’s proximity, allowing substantial body contact such as anogenital investigation and chin-resting, and may approach, follow and make contact with the male even more frequently
• Guidelines for male interest in female:
0 = male shows little or no interest in being near or interacting with the female
1 = male approaches, follows and/or interacts with female occasionally; male is also tolerant of female’s approach, etc.
2 = male approaches, follows, and/or interacts with female more frequently. Male is persistent in seeking contact, such as nose-to-nose greet, gentle horn wrestling, chin-resting and anogenital investigation.
3 = male devotes almost all his time and energy to maintaining proximity and interacting with and courting the female; there should be evidence of sexual arousal, such as an erection and mounting attempts
• Guidelines for aggression with male/aggression between male and the female’s social partner*:
0 = little or no aggression
1 = infrequent and mild non-contact aggression, such as aggressive vocalization (snarl display in white rhino, roar and bleat in greater one-horned rhino), horn display, lunging, charging, and chasing
2 = non-contact aggression is more frequent and/or some mild contact aggression occurs, such as horn clash and horn-to-body
3 = escalated contact and non-contact aggression (i.e., fighting), which may lead to injuries.
* Social partner refers to the rhino(s) that is/are commonly associated with the rhino whose datasheet you are filling out; that is, they are almost always found together.