#stereotypical behavior

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Hi! I was wondering if you knew anything in particular about the Lincoln Park Zoo- I think it’s the only zoo I’ve ever been to that’s free/no admission! Especially considering the scale. The only thing that concerned me was that their polar bears seem to have a history of stereotypical behaviors (pacing, primarily) which I saw while I was there, but again, I’m a total outsider to the actual inner workings of the facility. Sorry if this is too vague, haha.

There's a couple city zoos like that with free entrance! It's a cool option, and indicative of the city providing enough funding for the facility to operate without the need for income from tickets. (Sometimes the way things are set up, I think they can be required to stay free). The St. Louis Zoo is another!

I don't know a lot about the Lincoln Park Zoo beyond what I've seen as a guest. I've gone a couple times and haven't seen anything that stood out to me as major red flags, but that's just from a public perspective and not a comprehensive assessment. They're AZA-accredited and have been for a long time, which is an indication of their general ethos and operations. I can't speak to more than that about their quality, unfortunately.

You're right about the polar bear stereotypies - that's a thing I've seen for myself. The thing is, with stereotypies - and especially with polar bears - they're not necessarily an indicator of current welfare or quality of life.

For folk who are new to the blog or unfamiliar with the concept, in animal care, a stereotypy is a "repetitive, invariant behavior pattern with no obvious goal or function." Examples often seen are repetitive pacing, head-bobbing, licking or chewing, and rocking or swaying. (It's important to note that not all repetitive behaviors are stereotypic behaviors - e.g. animals may pace when excited and anticipating the arrival of a keeper). Stereotypies can be an indicator of chronically poor welfare, under-stimulating enrichment, or inappropriate captive environments, but the important thing to know about that is that they often persist after the problem that caused them is resolved. So you can take a polar bear or an elephant that picked up a stereotypic behavior in one zoo and move them to another, much better situation, and they may still continue the stereotypy.

(The fact that stereotypies can be indicators of previous, but not current, welfare problems is a really important nuance that is often left out of discussions. Sometimes they're called "zoochosis", which anti-captivity folk define as "the psychosis induced by captivity"... but that's a very unscientific approach, and doesn't facilitate productive discussion or attempts to identify causes and alleviate the behavior. Zoochosis is nothing but a useless manipulative buzzword, folks.)

Bears in general seem to be prone to stereotypies in captive situations. I've seen some recent research that hypothesizes it's likely due to a lack of ability to engage in normal behavioral sequences, such as foraging. Polar bears seem especially prone to it. One 2013 study found that of the 55 polar bears in North America they assessed, 85% engaged in stereotypical pacing. It might be because they natural cover such a huge range in the wild that older, smaller exhibits haven't allowed them to move as much as they need to; it could also be due to a historical lack of appropriate enrichment. We don't really know, because there's so many potential factors, and the long lifespan of polar bears means longitudinal studies of multiple generations take a very long time.

These are both things the industry is working on fixing: newer polar bear exhibits are built to be much larger and more complex, and there's been a heavy focus in the literature for at least a decade on finding ways to reduce stereotypies by providing engaging enrichment and increasing bears' activity levels. Lincoln Park Zoo's polar bear habitat was renovated in 2016, and - while it looks rather boring to me, as a guest - it was apparently designed to allow for a lot of activity range and polar bear-specific needs.

Their current bears are both about 20 years old, and were transferred to the Lincoln Park Zoo after the new habitat was completed. It's entirely plausible the bears arrived with stereotypies from their previous facilities, given that the emphasis on improving polar bear care is younger than they are. Here's a photo I took there a couple years ago, of Talini (I think), engaging in a repetitive head tossing behavior. It's definitely hard to watch, as a guest, and I don't remember if they had signage up about it.

That all being said, I wouldn't judge the whole zoo based on the polar bear stereotypies, because there's so much at play there in terms of history and the evolution of care for the species. What's important is how they're handling it, and what they're doing to help encourage more normative behavior from the bears. Given the amount of research and effort the zoo field has put into addressing the topic in polar bears for the last decade, it's highly probable that a lot of staff time goes into helping reduce the amount of time those bears spend engaging in stereotypies.

[bathask]

無料Apple Musicも今日迄。味の素の還暦過ぎ年寄り認知機能維持100年健脳手帳アプリ大人の発達障害アスペルガー/自閉スペクトラム症の障害福祉A型作業所昼食記録前にサ終。Apple Watch無しiPhone睡眠時間,体重,呼吸血圧心拍数や歩数など服薬記録ヘルスケアアプリ自閉症スペクトラムASD常同性のこだわり

[ultimate-marysue]

De aging fics would never not be precious to me, even if the author has no idea of what real children are like and how they're actually not 80% cutesy 20% accidentally funny. Like, the old saying about children and drunks being the only ones telling the truth but apply it to vigilantes who are so used to keeping up appearances they sometimes can't even tell who the real them is.

Like, give me heartbroken baby Bruce showing a grief and vulnerability that his children technically know is there, but have never seen openly expressed. Just seeing Bruce be emotional in general feels like such a shock. It's not like the assumed he didn't have emotions... But maybe they don't always remember?

Give me tiny Dick just infuriatingly pointing out all of the things older Dick has the grace to pretend to not see. Young Dick expressing negative emotions with as much ease as joy, making it obvious how much he keeps under wraps as an adult.

Give me baby assassin Cass so absolutely delighted at being allowed to show love and be loved back that it absolutely destroys everyone because it's one thing to know about her past and a different one to experience it. Baby Cass who has no way of communicating yet but who soaks up everything they teach her, desperate to know how to express herself.

Tiny Jason who is such a delight despite everything. Who is very obviously traumatized by his life circumstances but has a zest for life that is so obviously missing from his adult version. Baby Jason proving that he wasn't too reckless or angry or emotional and everyone having to reckon with the fact that this precious baby is the one they've been blaming for his own death.

Happy go lucky Steph showing way more clearly the trauma of being raised in an abusive household than any of them have seen from her. Older Steph jokes about it and hates passionately her father, but there's a difference between seeing that and seeing a little girl flinching from the adults around her.

A very Tiny Tim who is not yet aware of how not normal it is for a kid to be able to sneak out most nights to photograph super heroes unnoticed. Who doesn't understand why it would be weird for his parents to go investigate their archeological sites leaving him in Gotham. What did they want them to do? Take him with them? It's not safe for a kid in most of those places and he gets to do whatever he wants. What's wrong with that?

Baby Duke who has not learned yet how to mask and is in full Neurodivergent display while everyone around him thinks "no, that actually makes sense". Just, baby Duke completely unaware of the situation cause his parents never forced him to conform. Everyone keeps taking notes as Duke explains how he does things like they're dummies because "duh, it should have been obvious!" (It's not obvious, his parents always accommodated him without making him feel different so he just thinks this is the standard).

Also as a bonus: actual baby Damian being the most adorable little hot patootie ever witnessed. They get to dress him in different costumes and do a photocall. They share it with Talia and she sends them back a bunch of equally silly old baby photos.

[unpretty]

i found the perfect thigh highs to match my gummy bear skirt but i have to wait to buy them because i blew my budget buying a new vape :(

[mxtxfanatic]

I think fandom has fem!bingqiu all wrong. If there was a genderbent PIDW, Shen Qingqiu would be the cartoonishly evil slutty woman with the huge bust and perfect makeup that screams *EVIL* (because only evil women know how to wear makeup), and Luo Binghe would be the dainty, near-virginal one to fulfill the gender stereotype of whore = evil, virgin = good.

[k9offline]

being nonhuman kinda feels like zoochosis in a way,,, like an animal raised in captivity in a non suitable enviroment who would never survive in the wild pacing around in circles for hours on end because they know it just isnt right

[aidoxl]

John: (In awe) "The fog parts. I finally see it. Castle Kerringford"

Castle Kerringford:

[alwaysbewoke]

It's even scarier when they fake cry right in your face

[tempfrangit]

The horror of Gaz x Reader comes from the bones of Hider in the house and @/pricegouge absolute amazing horror fics that have inspired me.

Ever since you inherited your aunt’s house something’s felt off. More than just the grief of losing your closest family member, which had remained a constant weight on your weary shoulders. Your hometown is just like you remembered it and so different all at once. It seemed like the places you had the fondest memories had closed down, while every scabbing shame remained, making your face heat up still after all these years.

You’d also inherited her small used bookstore-slash-café and an absolute mutt of a reformed feral cat that you knew for a fact she’d picked up off the side of the road near a swamp. You’ve already decided to keep the store running, planning to juggle your wfh programmer position and return to your young adult life of being a barista. It was the cat that honestly caused you the most problems. Affogato — full name of course Gelato Affogato al Caffè, and a name that still made you roll your eyes and smile — was a sweet brown tabby that seemed incredibly stressed by the loss of his former owner

The first night you’d spent after you were officially fully moved in, he walked through the hall outside your room meowing. He hadn’t stopped until you’d followed him, down the stairs and into the laundry room. He’d inspected every corner of the room and for some reason the action unnerved you. His big green eyes turn back to you, and part of your heart aches for the old guy. It didn’t help that the old house settled loudly at night, like footsteps in the mostly empty shell

But almost an entire month and it made you feel like you were losing your mind in your own home. It felt like you weren’t getting restful sleep, brain fog clouding your short term memory. You can’t seem to remember where you put some things down. You lose your wallet for almost three days before you find it tucked under the sofa. It felt like you were going through food faster than you should have. It wasn’t helped by the new sleeping habit that you’d apparently adopted: kicking your blankets off. You’d wake up shuddering and there was Affogato crying beside you in bed

It felt like your new cat was summoning a demon

A strange new positive was that a very cute new neighbor has moved into town, and he’s become a valued regular customer and maybe even friend? Kyle is absolutely, jaw-droppingly handsome, and kind and funny and smart. Like he’s straight out of the cheese romance novels a gaggle of older women come in to trade titles for collections, browsing while they sipped from the one of a kind mugs your aunt had adored picking up while thrifting. And you don’t know why but that makes you really, really into him

Of course you agree to lunch, the safest possible date you could think of

[eraserheadadult]

the very first time a power outlet was installed in a residential home the place was immediately swarmed with edwardian babies wielding fine silver cake forks competeing to see who could electrocute themselves to death the fastest

[souvlakicokane]

lesbians confuse me sometimes bc they will b like I’m masc4masc or im femme4masc or wtv & its like okkk i am neither of those do i qualify or

[bathask]

限局した興味,感覚過敏や鈍麻,常同行動こだわりのDSM-5自閉症スペクトラム障害B項目RRB光るものに熱中でこもれびキラキラ光るもの反射光ガラス瓶など好き。卒業する大人の発達障害アスペルガー/自閉スペクトラム症の就労継続支援B型事業所通所の高不安も明暗具合見つめ解消。先日ASD精神科通院処方薬整理せねば

[multifandomhellhole]

I rarely say my takes unprompted but I genuinely can't stand modern fandom and need to scream into the void over it to thug it out.

it genuinely feels like fandom is in its gen alpha age of regression. I've noticed this heavily with other fandoms, for me I've seen it most in resident evil but now I'm seeing it in arcane too of ship wars being taken WAAAAY to seriously and just everything in general being surrounded by weird purity culture. Not to mention someone always trying to find some deep controversial reason into why you don't like a popular character or treating it like it's a direct attack. That weird portion can be left in 2020 with kinnies and IRL character shit.

What really pisses me off is that people especially on twitter, scream for fandom culture to be back, but the slightest mary sue, terrible animatic, out of character x reader, large age gap, weird fanfic, horrible but fun take, insensitive joke about a well loved character, and/or rare pair art gets crucified there. And y'all wonder why fandom is dead. Genuinely who wants to provide any material for an ungrateful bible thumping community and a hostile one at that? Or one that's so obsessed with canon.

Fandom etiquette is absolutely dead on any other website minus this one and even then I'm seeing some popular tweets that erase the fun of it here on Tumblr for some reason. Since I'm focused on arcane right now I'll be using that as an example. So what if people want to think jinx and Jayce would be friends? That doesn't mean they didn't understand the show or are less superior watchers to you. That means they don't have a stick up their ass. Who cares If someone makes a Viktor coughing joke? He does in fact cough a lot and it's placement can be funny. You are not morally ascended cause you didn't laugh at pixels fictional lung cancer. In fact you are morally shity for telling someone to kill themselves for joking about it.

Who cares if someone ships cait and Maddie over vi or vi with maddie. Or cait with ambessa or Viktor with sky or Viktor with silco. Literally the world kept spinning. Genuinely who gives a fuck it's an animated show about league not a real time war documentary 💀 Creepypasta literally turned a bunch of murders into a found family let's not forget how being delusional makes fandom more fun.

Like I said, Unfortunately since Im in an arcane place of focus this post will be using arcane examples but this does apply to every fandom.

[sumplysilly]

Ppl: Destigmatize mental illness!!!

Ppl when some1 is selfish: OMG a fucking filthy narcissist

Ppl when anything mildly weird happens: Schizo moment. Absolute sociopathic behavior. You're so delulu LOL. U should be put in a rubber room

Ppl when some1 they personally don't like exists: Let's armchair diagnose them with a personality disorder for no real reason other than I don't like them

[scoobydoodean]

Oh, I see. You and all your little friends are just too DUMB to understand. Too low IQ. The arguments sure is convincing.

I’m not kidding they really are saying somewhere out there that Kripke couldn’t possibly understand what it means to be blue collar because to do that, you’d have to have read about the value of a linen coat (which is not directly related to any of this btw) from Marx’s Das Kapital. Kripke of course couldn’t possibly have read it, and if you haven’t read it, you can’t possibly understand anything about class. You have to have read Theory™️ to understand what it means to be *looks down my nose at people who I assume Have Not Read All The Books That I Did* blue collar *sips from tea cup with my pinky out, chortling*

[sp00ky-frog]

Visiting phoenix zoo because it has a couple of my favorite animals (spotted hyenas and maned wolves)

I haven’t seen them yet but I HAVE seen some humongous toads and cute baby walking sticks