The behaviour of captive sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) in captivity at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, Penampang, Sabah / Emylia Darman @ Alias Darman

A study has been conducted to determine the behaviour of captive sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) in captivity which conducted at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, Penampang, Sabah for 3 consecutive months from July 2019 until November 2019. The aim of this study were to determine the daily activity budget and activity rhythm of sun bear in captivity, to investigate the relationships of stereotypic behaviour and sex during the presence of visitor and no visitor and to determine the horizontal and vertical space used by captive sun bears in the enclosure. There were 18 behaviours had been observed with 15 minutes focal sampling and 5 minutes scan sampling over 30 days. The behaviours were divided into 3 categories which are abnormal, active and passive behaviour. The result showed sun bear spending more time on abnormal behaviour (34%) then active behaviour (32%) and passive behaviour (21%). Female showed more stereotypic behavior than male especially with the presence of visitor, where male will show more interest towards the visitor and perform a begging behavior when being feed by the visitor. Even though sex does not influence the stereotypic behaviour, It might occurred because of rearing history, boredom, lack of enrichment or health issue. The sun bears use more horizontal space than vertical space which contrast with the sun bears in the wild. This study contributes in providing an information that bring a benefit to the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, Penampang, Sabah to understand the bear’s behaviour in captive environment thus can provide the sun bears with the right standard of conservation effort such as introduction of environmental enrichment that is suitable for captive sun bear.