Module 04 - Occupational Health and Safety

Basic Animal Behaviour Related to Handling and Manipulations

The flight zone is an animal's "personal space". The size of the flight zone varies with the tameness of the animal, and other animal-related factors. Completely tame animals have little or no flight zone and a person can touch them. An animal will begin to move away when the person enters the edge of the flight zone. When the person is outside the flight zone, an animal (or group of animals in a herd) will turn and face the person while maintaining a safe distance.

It is probably safe to say that when animals are in small cages or pens, all human "intrusions" are inside the animal's flight zone. Therefore, it is very important to condition the animals to regular handling to reduce the apprehension and stress imposed by human presence.

When an animal is apprehensive (e.g., about being picked up), aggressive (e.g., about to attack), or defensive (e.g., protecting itself, or its young in the case of a mother), its posture and other behavioural signs can give clues about its state and possible intentions. In many mammalian species the "warning" posture includes lowered head, ears down or back, and in the smaller animals, mouth open in a snarl.

By carefully observing the animal's behaviour while approaching it, injuries such as bites and scratches can be avoided.