When I was in school every 4 years or so we’d go to sea world as a field trip. (Grew up in greater Orlando). I feel like every time I was there the same walrus was stuck in this small tank and it swam this route where it would endlessly go down and flip backwards, loop after loop for hours, day after day, year after year. So for at least 12 years during all the normal operation hours we were there that guy couldn’t swim left or right, as he didn’t have any room, just enough room to swim in a constant backwards flips. The penguins were in newer areas that looked bigger and they could swim, even the whales had small tanks relative to them, but could swim around in any direction they chose. Not that walrus though. He swam the song of depression. Endless loops
I think if I were a non-human animal, I would likely prefer to be in a zoo than in the wild. Healthcare, nutrition, and life expectancy seem better.
Exception: Large cetaceans.
When I was in school every 4 years or so we’d go to sea world as a field trip. (Grew up in greater Orlando). I feel like every time I was there the same walrus was stuck in this small tank and it swam this route where it would endlessly go down and flip backwards, loop after loop for hours, day after day, year after year. So for at least 12 years during all the normal operation hours we were there that guy couldn’t swim left or right, as he didn’t have any room, just enough room to swim in a constant backwards flips. The penguins were in newer areas that looked bigger and they could swim, even the whales had small tanks relative to them, but could swim around in any direction they chose. Not that walrus though. He swam the song of depression. Endless loops
Stereotypic behaviour.
Forgot the most important part (if the animal isn’t an apex predator) : safety. Not needing to worry about being killed 24/7 is pretty nice.