Environmental enrichment

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An Asian elephant in a zoo manipulating a suspended ball provided as environmental enrichment.
An Asian elephant in a zoo manipulating a suspended ball provided as environmental enrichment.

Environmental enrichment, also called behavioral enrichment, refers to the practice of providing animals under managed care with environmental stimuli. The goal of environmental enrichment is to improve an animal's quality of life by increasing physical activity, stimulating natural behaviors, and preventing or reducing stereotypical behaviors. In principle, enrichment can be beneficial to any relatively intelligent animal, including mammals, birds, and even octopuses.[1]

Environmental enrichment may be offered to animals in the following situations:

Contents

[edit] Types of enrichment

Any novel stimulus which evokes an animal's interest can be considered enriching, including natural and artificial objects, scents, novel foods, and different methods of preparing foods (for example, frozen in ice). Puzzles that require an animal to solve simple problems in order to access food or other rewards are considered enrichment. An animal's environment may also be enriched by the presence of other animals of the same or different species. A stimulus can be considered enriching even if the animal's reaction to it is negative, such as with unpleasant scents, although stimuli that evoke extreme stress or fear should be avoided, as well as stimuli that can be harmful to the animal.

Enclosures in modern zoos are often designed with enrichment in mind. For example, the Denver Zoo's exhibit Predator Ridge allows different African carnivore species to rotate among several enclosures, providing the animals with a larger environment and exposing them to each others' scents.

[edit] Regulatory requirements

[edit] United States

The 1985 amendments to the United States Animal Welfare Act amendments directed the Secretary of Agriculture to establish regulations to provide an adequate physical environment to promote the psychological well-being of primates[4] and exercise for dogs.[5] Subsequent standards for nonhuman primate environmental enhancement (including provisions for social grouping and environmental enrichment) are included under Section 3.81 in the Animal Welfare Regulations (9 CFR).[6] Concepts relating to behavioral needs and environmental enrichment are also incorporated into the standards for marine, flying, and aquatic mammals.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Octopus enrichment program. Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
  2. ^ Maple TL (2007). "Toward a science of welfare for animals in the zoo" (PDF). J Appl Anim Welf Sci 10 (1): 63–70. doi:10.1080/10888700701277659. PMID 17484680. 
  3. ^ Ron Hines, D.V.M. (2006-04-24). Synopsis of the Environmental Enrichment Program of 2nd Chance Sanctuary. Retrieved on 2006-06-11.
  4. ^ Richard Crawford (2007). A Quick Reference to the Requirement for Environmental Enhancement for Primates Under the Animal Welfare Act. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
  5. ^ Richard L. Crawford (2007). A Quick Reference to the Requirement for the Exercise of Dogs Under the Animal Welfare Act. Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
  6. ^ U.S. Laws, Regulations and Guidelines for Environmental Enhancement of Nonhuman Primates. USDA, Animal Welfare Information Center (2006). Retrieved on 2007-11-06.
  7. ^ Kulpa-Eddy, Jodie A.; Taylor, Sylvia & Adams, Kristina M. (2005), “USDA Perspective on Environmental Enrichment for Animals”, ILAR Journal (Washington, DC: Institute for Laboratory Animal Research) 26 (2): 83-94, ISSN 0018-9960, <http://dels.nas.edu/ilar_n/ilarjournal/46_2/pdfs/v4602kulpa-eddy.pdf> 

[edit] External links

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