The Making of Our SciAni Animated Short

This is the story behind our animated short, produced by SciAni…

The importance of communicating science cannot be overstated. Doing so in a way that engages people and helps them understand the heart of the matter is no easy task in many cases. Yet, as a society, we are constantly updating our tools to be as accessible as possible.

There are few media as accessible in our modern age as the video. And, it’s hard to find a more fun and engaging way to learn about science than animated shorts! That ultimately led me to Science Animated (SciAni), who provided the platform and the know-how to put our ideas about behavioral analytics for zoo animal welfare into a beautiful piece of animated art.

It was really important for us to effectively represent the goals not only of our research partners but also those of our zoo partners. Everyone in the community is aware of the potential animal welfare concerns, and most reputable institutions are doing everything they can to provide the best possible conditions and care for their animals, often based on scientific evidence.

But there is still much we can learn about the often subtle links between animal behavior and welfare. This video is therefore one additional call-to-action.

My hope is that this video can serve as an introduction to the topic of behavioral welfare assessment at zoos, and lead into our development of further behavioral assessment tools and analytical capacity, and expand our network of collaboration.