Environmental Factors on Well-Being of Captive Pottos (Perodicticus potto) at the Cincinnati Zoo

Abstract

The potto (Perodicticus potto) is a nocturnal non-human primate (Suborder: Strepsirhini) that lives in tropical forests in the Congo basin and ranges east to countries of the Rift Valley. They are difficult to study in the wild and are not abundant in captive collections. The Cincinnati Zoo has a total of 8 individuals in their primate collection (see Figure 1). This project sought to examine two Cincinnati zoo exhibits that housed a total of 4 subjects. The goal was to characterize the environmental complexity of the two exhibits and produce activity budgets for the 4 subjects.