Why do animals in circuses sway back and forth, bob their heads, and bite the bars of their cages?
Most wild or non-domesticated animals retain a need to engage in their instinctive behaviour patterns. Prolonged confinement frustrates these behaviour patterns, and can lead to serious psychological distress and the development of abnormal – or “stereotypic” – behaviours. Abnormal aggression, apathy, self-mutilation, and stereotypic movements such as head-weaving, rocking from side to side, bar-licking and pacing are relatively common in performing animals, and are indicative of a deprived social and physical environment.
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