Understanding how the behavior of captive American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) congregations compares to wild congregations is essential to assessing the welfare of alligators in captivity. Wild alligator congregations perform complex social behaviors, but it is unknown if such ...

The research community is committed to improving the well-being of nonhuman primates by providing opportunities to express species-specific behaviors such as foraging. In the wild, macaques spend a large part of their day foraging; this behavior is greatly limited in captivity. Bedding (wood...

Cow comfort was evaluated in a freestall barn at the University of Florida Dairy Research Unit during the summer of 2008 by comparing the effects of three bedding materials on freestall usage, hock health, and leg hygiene. The bedding materials were sand, waterbeds, and waterbeds with approximately ...

Tunnel ventilation is an increasingly popular approach to mitigate the effects of heat stress on dairy cattle. Tunnel-ventilation barns use a bank of high-power fans to move air horizontally from one end of the barn to the other at cow level. The overall objective of the present experiments was to...

Understanding how novel environmental conditions presented by urbanization affect the ecology and behavior of species is an important component of global change biology. Behavior is the first way in which organisms respond to novel conditions. We investigated differences in habitat use, movement,...

Background: Sea cucumbers possess a toxin, holothurin, which has been shown to cause irreversible changes in the gills and nervous system leading to death in marine fish. Case Description: A 250-gallon saltwater home aquarium was evaluated for an acute mortality event. The aquarium housed multiple...

The objective of this study was to test the viability of the use of low-volume cages (1 m³) placed in farm ponds and evaluates the productivity of Thailand and red tilapia submitted to different stocking densities (200, 250, 300 fish m^-3). The research was carried out at the Aquaculture Section of...

The aquaculture performance of mutton snapper Lutjanus analis raised in floating net cages was assessed by measuring their growth, survival, and feed conversion rates during a growout trial conducted in a 3.2-ha saltwater lake in the Florida Keys, Florida, USA. Approximately 10 500 hatchery-reared...

Approximately 5% of cats in animal shelters in the United States test positive for either feline leukemia virus (FeLV) or feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which translates to more than 100,000 positive cats managed by shelters each year. Little is known about the current status of retroviral...

Arthropod vectors of canine infectious diseases are present throughout Florida. Since crowded housing has the potential to bring vectors and infected dogs into close proximity, it is possible that prevalence of infection is higher in intensely housed dogs. In this study, the seroprevalence of ...