Abnormal Repetitive Behaviour in captive animals

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'Abnormal repetitive behaviour' (ARB) is a broad term covering all the strange-looking repetitive behaviours below. Many are known 'stereotypic behaviours', i.e. demonstrably caused by the frustration of natural behaviour patterns, impaired brain function, or repeated attempts to deal with some problem; but for the remainder, information on the biological causes is currently ambiguous or unavailable.  The more precise label 'stereotypy' has been suggested to apply to the sub-set of stereotypic behaviours for which there is good evidence of malfunctioning motor control similar to that seen in amphetamine-induced stereotypy (e.g. the back-flips and somersaults of caged deer mice). The terms 'compulsive behaviour'  and 'impulsive behaviour' have been cautiously applied to other sub-sets: forms of malfunction akin to those seen in, respectively, certain types of human OCD and the hyper-locomotion induced by amphetamine-like drugs.

Whatever their precise classifications, the ARBs below illustrate both the recurring themes (e.g. route-tracing, bar-mouthing) and the diversity seen in the ARBs of different captive animals. Some forms seem 'laid back' and relaxed (e.g. Sophie Vickery's pacing jaguar and brown bear), but others seem frantic (e.g. Joe Garner's twirling lab. mice, and the 'waltzing monkey' from Born Free's archives). Some are rather variable in expression (e.g. Sebastian McBride's crib-biting horse, María Díez Léon's 'restless  mink' and the cage-lid climbing of Megan Jones' African striped mice), while others show a near-clockwork precision (e.g. Melinda Novak's pacing rhesus monkey, and Brian Seaton's bear with its well-trodden footprints). What causes this diversity? The difference between normal animals in un-natural situations, and animals which have themselves become profoundly abnormal? Between newly-developed ARBs and ingrained habits? Between different forms of brain malfunction? As yet, we have rather more hunches than we do hard data.

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