They hope any findings might be able to help improve experts’ understanding and management of different species.
Dr Samantha Ward, a zoo animal welfare researcher at NTU’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, said: “Wild animals housed in zoos undergo daily interactions with familiar and unfamiliar people and this presents an ideal opportunity to see if they recognise human emotions and in a sense ‘catch’ them.
“If it’s the people rather than the zookeepers then that could be considered when undertaking measures such as enclosure design.” They are keen to see how the animals react to different people and whether they demonstrate empathy by mirroring their emotions. Researchers hope their study will provide a step forward in being able to better understand the mechanisms of human-animal interactions and our evolutionary understanding of animal minds.
Dr Annika Paukner, associate professor in Comparative Psychology in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Social Sciences, said: “Our study combines expertise in zoo biology and human-animal interactions with psychology and comparative cognition.
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