A Study of Diurnal Activity Pattern and Time Budget Analysis of Captive Ostrich (Struthio camelus) in Monsoon, Winter and Summer Seasons at Alipore Zoological Garden, Kolkata, India

Understanding the behaviors of a particular species in captivity is crucial to compare them with the ones in wild for the overall growth of animal population. Hence, a study on diurnal behavioral pattern and time budget analysis of a male ostrich (Struthio camelus) was conducted at Alipore Zoological Garden, Kolkata, India, from August 2023 to June 2024, in order to explore all the seasonal variations. Data was collected from 10:00 h to 17:00 h by using focal sampling method with total 23,520 minutes of observations. The current study revealed total 18 different behaviors such as standing outside shade, standing inside shade, running, walking, eating of leaves, grasses, eating of mud, stones, self-maintenance, dust bathing, investigatory picking, sitting with head high, sitting with head low, flapping, preening, sleeping during standing, sleeping during sitting, defecation, keeper interaction and feeding of offered feed. The studied ostrich primarily displayed self-maintenance (16.10%) during monsoon, whereas, it was predominantly engaged in standing outside the shed (14.67%) and eating of leaves, grasses (13.86%) in winter and in summer also the standing outside the shed (13.86%). When the seasonal variation among activity budget data were considered, it was noted that, the ostrich primarily exhibited walking, eating of stones, mud, self-maintenance and investigatory picking during monsoon, compared to the other two seasons (p<0.05, DMRT), whereas, activities such as sitting with head high and sleeping during sitting were prevalent during summer season. This study will serve as a guide for further investigations on behaviors of captive male ostriches to take conservation efforts for their welfare.