Walking with lemurs can reduce psychological and physiological stress

[Judi Lynn]

BY RACHEL SUMNER FEBRUARY 21, 2020

New research from the University of Gloucestershire indicates that a walk with lemurs through a naturalistic enclosure can reduce both psychological and physiological stress. The findings have been published in the British Ecological Society’s new open access interdisciplinary journal, People & Nature.

Professor Anne Goodenough and I, an applied ecologist and a psychobiologist, respectively, followed 86 participants as they took a walk on the wild side in the UK’s largest walk-through lemur enclosure, which is part of a European protected species programme. We found that participants not only reported an improved mood after their lemur walk, but their levels of salivary cortisol decreased too.

Our understanding of how green space can impact human health and wellbeing has been expanding in recent decades, but research tends to view nature as space or place, rather than as living things. Research that has been carried out with animals has tended to focus on pets or service animals, rather than wild animals. We wanted to see if experiencing a naturalistic encounter with non-companion animals could be beneficial for humans.

Participants were guided around the walkthrough enclosure at a gentle pace for around 11 minutes, being provided with the opportunity to stop and observe the animals if they were present. We gathered information about the participants’ specific perspectives on nature, and their appraisals of the proximity and number of the lemurs, in order to understand whether these factors may influence the degree of stress reduction observed in participants. These aspects were included to add more depth to our understanding of how and why interacting with nature (in whatever form) may provide benefit.

More:
https://www.psypost.org/2020/02/walking-with-lemurs-can-reduce-psychological-and-physiological-stress-55755

[wryter2000]

1. Sign me up

I'm sure there must be lemurs in one of our zoos, but I doubt the management would allow me to walk with them.

[unc70]

2. Time to visit the Duke Lemur Center again

It is just a few miles away. They have great guided tours. It is supposedly the largest lemur sanctuary.

[TygrBright]

3. Gettin' in first with this...

cheerfully,
Bright