What is Enrichment?

Enrichment is an important part of animal care. Enrichment provides captive animals with mental and physical stimulation. It also gives zoo animal’s choices and some control over their environment. Zookeepers and volunteers are always searching for new ways to help the animal have a healthier life in the zoo.

Food Can Be Enrichment

New and different foods to smell, taste and discover are interesting to the animals. Whole foods that must be cracked or peeled; foods frozen inside ice blocks; foods hidden throughout the exhibit or stuffed inside a sealed box or bag; small items like nuts and raisins scattered in hay; or foods like honey and peanut butter smeared into rock crevices or holes in logs are all used for enrichment. All these types of foods and ways of presenting them give animals the opportunity to hunt or forage for their food, activities that most animals in the wild spend a great deal of time doing.

New and Unusual Items Can Be Enrichment

Many of the animals like to kick around or balance themselves on large rubber balls. Lots of the apes like to make sleeping nests, like they do in the wild, with clothing. The Asian Elephant likes to play with her tire swing.

The Design Of An Animals Enclosure Can Be Enrichment

A grassy hillside, a tangle of bushes, trees and climbing structures give animals a variety of choices of where to sit, play, sleep or hide out. Many animals like the gorillas, tigers, and otters enjoy their pools. The cats like to rest in their caves or rocky ledges. A dead tree log in some exhibits becomes a new place for the animals to explore, sharpen their claws or even eat.

And Interactions Can Be Enrichment

These interactions can be in between the same species, other species, or even humans.

Housing social species like primates, flamingos, kangaroos and antelopes together allows them to create a social structure and learn and practice all the behaviors to be successful within their social group. Housing different species together provides the animals to mark, protect and defend territories; be alert for danger or interference from other animals; protect their young; and many other natural behaviors. Interactions with human keepers and volunteers give animals opportunities to learn new things, experience successes and in some cases receive praise and affection. Note: These human interactions may or may not be physical. Most of the keepers do not go into the exhibit with the animals. The zoo animals are not domesticated.

Look And Learn
Enrichment is about providing a rich, complex, interesting and challenging life for the zoo animals. With an enriched environment, they can show us just how fascinating and magnificent they are. Next time you make a trip to the zoo look at how the animals use their enrichment.