The two definitions
The typical and usual behaviour an animal should be showing.
Unusual and irregular behaviour that is not normal for that species.
Those last three words carry the whole unit. Lying on your back is a crisis in a rabbit and a normal moult in a tarantula. Eating your own droppings is a warning sign in a dog and a nutritional necessity in a guinea pig. You cannot judge a behaviour without knowing whose behaviour it is.
Normal or abnormal for that species?
Twenty behaviours. Decide, then read what a keeper would say. There is no score and nothing to fail — the explanations are the point.
Standing in the stable doorway swaying its head and neck from side to side, shifting weight foot to foot, for long stretches.
Chewing the top of the stable door and wooden fence rails.
Kicking the stable wall repeatedly, often around the same time each day.
Lying down and rolling in the field, then getting up and shaking.
Repeatedly hopping and twisting in the air with all four feet off the ground.
Eating its own droppings straight from underneath itself.
Chewing the hair off its own flank, or off a cage mate, leaving bald patches with intact skin.
Slowly raising one front leg and waving it in a circle.
Running along the front glass, scrabbling at it, over and over.
Has not come out of its hide for four days and its eyes look cloudy and blue.
Striking at the glass whenever anyone walks past.
Lying motionless on its back with its legs curled up.
Rolling frantically in a container of fine dust.
Gnawing continuously at the cage bars.
Grinding its teeth together, and its eyes are bulging slightly in and out.
Bouncing sideways, arching its back, bumping into things, mouth open.
Digging a shallow hollow in dry earth, lying in it and flicking soil through the feathers.
Walking the same route along the front of the enclosure, turning at the same two points, for hours.
Sitting hunched and still in a corner, not eating, not producing droppings.
Making a loud hissing noise when picked up.
Monitoring and recording
Observing and checking an animal over a period of time.
HowHealth checks · visual checks
Keeping track of the history of an animal's activities.
HowDatabases · paper records
Why records matter
- Communication — the next person on shift did not see what you saw.
- An accurate record of activities, behaviour, feeding, water, medication and health.
- Health and safety for handlers — which animal bit someone, and when.
- Health and safety for the animals — a pattern nobody would notice from one shift.
The poster task
Choose two animals from the groups below. They cannot both be from the same group.
Large animals
Exotics
Small domestic mammals