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Resilience has become a prominent topic in zoo and aquarium welfare science, and for good reason. For those working with animals under managed care, it's clear that it’s not just the current welfare state that matters but also how animals cope with challenges over time. This also means the animals need to be given challenges to overcome, which must be carefully designed. This blog explores what resilience means, how it aligns and differs with welfare, and how to build and me

The recent situation at Marineland in Ontario, Canada, has raised a sensitive and important question: should the euthanasia of healthy animals be part of welfare discussions? The park has stated that up to 30 beluga whales may be euthanised if alternative funding or transfers cannot be secured. This case forces us to examine a difficult issue in animal welfare science and ethics. Understanding Welfare at the Point of Death Animal welfare science has traditionally focused on t

Since 2020, a series of unusual events has captured global attention: orcas attacking and sinking boats off the Iberian Peninsula. What began as rare occurrences have evolved into a complex behavioural puzzle. This situation raises questions not only about orca cognition but also about their welfare and relationship with human activity. On May 4, 2023, three orcas sank a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar. Then, on September 13, 2025, another group sank a yacht near Lisbon, mar

Rhinos are often perceived as solitary creatures, largely based on decades of field studies conducted during the daylight hours. But recent research is challenging this long-standing view revealing that when the sun sets, rhinos engage in surprising and socially rich behaviours that may hold important implications for how we care for them in managed settings. At Animal Welfare Expertise, we find these new insights into rhino behavior both fascinating and deeply relevant to we

Do you see the glass as half-empty or half-full? Are you a risk-taker or risk-averse? We all have optimistic and pessimistic tendencies (called ‘judgement bias’), and exciting new research is showing that animals have these too. But here's the really interesting finding: animals are more flexible, changing from one outlook to the other more frequently than we do.     As humans, we tend to think of ourselves as either an optimist or pessimist. Society’s take on this is that th

Mustangs and burros vs. the American obsession for meat It’s ironic that for outsiders and Americans alike, a beautiful mustang running wild is an emotive icon of the country’s constitutional freedom.   However, populations of wild horses and donkeys have been expanding exponentially and are in direct competition with cattle for public land feeding grounds. Due to these pressures as well as reported welfare concerns for the horses, the US government has just proposed plans  t