Hello Zoochaters, The time has come for me to find a topic for my bachelor thesis. I have one idea and I would like to realise it but so far, nothing is certain, so I need some alternatives and I hoped that togehter we can find some interesting ideas. The discipline I´m studying is called "Animal protection and welfare" so I need to find something what will match with it a bit. Zoos are probably one of my biggest hobbies so I want to find something zoo-related what will I be able to realise in area where I live (Czech Republic and neighbouring countries ideally) My only doable idea so far is to write about inbreeding in european population of Shensi takins (Budorcas taxicolor bedfordi). I will be very happy if I manage to get this going, but I need some plan B (C, D, E,...) if the first one won´t work out for me. So Zoochat do you have some intersting ideas?
I thought it was a thesis on being a bachelor, hence the reason why it was in the 'cafe' section of the forum - there are lots of bachelors in here! Since your thread appears to be of a more serious nature, why not post it on the 'general discussion' board?
If you want to stay with your first idea this topic could be of intrest to you : http://www.zoochat.com/2/mishmi-takins-captivity-405868/?highlight=takin
Well, I wasn´t sure if my question really fit´s into general disscusion so i put it here. Thanks for the link vogelcommando, it was a really intersting read. It seems that I unfortunately won´t stick with it though, because Zoo Liberec didn´t respond to my e-mail at all...So now I have to think about other possibilities. I have one backup plan, but I want to use it only if I don´t come up with something new.
''Concentration of fecal steroid stress hormones in chimps who live in group of only two (eg. two male chimps), in a group from 3-10, in a group of more than 11 members, or eventualy solitary chimpanzee, who lives in similar enclosures and conditions of interaction with visitors (eg. similar fenced enclosures, in a similar sized zoos, with similar numbers of visitors, or something similar.... like in gorilas. Or measuring fecal steroid hormones in solitary vs. big cats who live in groups, as for tigers or jaguars... I think that normaly social animal, who live in a group of just two, will have higher fecal cocentration of stress hormone than animals from the same species who live in a group with more than 3 members, but not overcrowded group.
I'm stabbing in the dark here but I know that it is not good to clean the enclosures of some animals too often because they use urine and other secretions to communicate. Maybe you could do something on that. Like for example I know that you shouldn't clean the cages of rodents too often because they use urine to communicate, maybe you could do a study on concentration of say, stress hormones in rats that have their cage cleaned too often versus those who don't. Kind of lame, I know, but rodents are common in labs and other facilities so there might be a lot out there for you to build on.
First of all sorry for not replying, I really wanted to keep you updated but time was against me. Update about my progress: I want to thank all of you for helping me. Your ideas are really interesting, but I was informed that due tu recent rise in zootopics in students thesis, the topic has to be really something special and all those stress measuring topics are really common. But the good news are that I was offered writing thesis about European pond turtles and their population in Czech Republic. It looks like a really interesting topic, I can study their parasites, their genetic diversity,...there is a lot too choose from. Now I have some time to accept it or let it go. Turtles aren´t really the kind of animal I would prefer, but it seems like I´m running out of my own options and the topics made by our faculty don´t look interesting to me. I´ll keep you updated.
