Studi Interaksi Antar Beruang Madu {Helarctos malayanus (Raffles, 1821)} di Kandang Peraga Kebun Binatang Gembira Loka, Yogyakarta

Abstract

Malayan sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) can be found in Sumatra and Borneo. The threats that they receive in its natural habitat lead to the need for ex-situ conservation to preserve and ensure sun bears’ welfare. Sun bears are known as solitary animals in the wild, however they often placed in the same enclosure. This study was done to add information about interaction of male and female sun bear with prominent age gap when placed in the same enclosure. This study was also conducted to observe the male reproductive behavior when placed with a female sun bear that has surpassed the productive age. The subject of this study was an 8 years old male and a 24 years old female. Observation was done for 100 hours or 360.000 seconds with focal animal sampling method. The result of this study is the male did affiliative behavior with the percentage of 94,82%, agonistic for 0,00%, and reproductive with 5,18%. The female did affiliative behavior with the percentage of 14,55%, agonistic with 76,37%, and reproductive with 9,09%. The conclusion of this study is the male did more affiliative behavior (94,82%) than agonistic behavior (0,00%). The female tends to avoid social interactions and did a lot of agonistic behavior (76,37%). During observation, reproductive behavior was done more by the male (19 seconds) than the female (5 seconds). The male sun bear keeps on doing normal reproductive and non-reproductive behaviors even though the behavior did not reciprocated and was rejected by the female sun bear.