The
Importance of Enrichment - Mary Meixner, OBS Intern
Imagine
that you live in a one-room house. Blank walls, concrete floor, no
fixtures or furniture. There might be one of those fluorescent
ceiling lights so you can see your surroundings, but other than that,
the room is a blank slate. Now, you’re living here, so this is
where you spend all day and all night. Wouldn’t that be boring?
Now, imagine that one day, someone came in and placed a giant colored
ball in your room. Maybe the next day your visitor took the ball
away and brought you a puzzle, and then the day after that, you were
given one of those small plastic jungle gym sets. Chances are, you
would play with the ball, put the puzzle together, and climb all over
the jungle gym. Without even knowing it, you were being enriched.
In
zoos and wildlife sanctuaries all over the world, animals are kept in
captivity for conservation, education, rehabilitation, etc. Living
conditions for these animals have improved greatly since the first
zoos. While zoos of the past kept animals in what was essentially a
concrete jail cell, zoos of today are much more conscious of captive
animals’ natural history and needs. One of these needs is
enrichment. In the wild, an animal is constantly reacting to and
acting upon its environment, or habitat. If they are not sleeping,
they are hunting, problem-solving, foraging, fighting, interacting,
staying alert for prey/predators, keeping tabs on environmental
conditions, to name a few. These animals are wired to do this, so
when an animal is housed in captivity where it doesn’t have to rely
on any of these survival skills, problems can develop if enrichment
is not part of their routine. For example, a polar bear is a nomadic
creature, which means that it doesn’t have a permanent home, so it
spends hours upon hours of its day just walking, moving from place to
place to find food. A polar bear in a zoo doesn’t have the
infinite Arctic space to be a nomad, and if enrichment is not
provided, it may spend hours of its day pacing back and forth with no
purpose. This is called a stereotypical behavior, and is an
indicator of poor welfare.
So,
what is enrichment? The Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA),
which accredits zoos and sanctuaries across the United States,
defines enrichment as “a dynamic process for enhancing animal
environments within the context of the animals’ behavioral biology
and natural history.” Simply put, it is a process of mimicking the
stimulating and challenging environment that an animal would
experience in the wild, enabling the animal to problem-solve and
utilize its mental capacity. This helps prevent the boredom that can
lead to undesirable behaviors.
Enrichment
involves mimicking the environment an animal would experience in the
wild.
Here,
a lion rips into a fake zebra made out of paper-mache.
(Photo
from vcebiology.edublogs.org)
There
are several different types of enrichment. For example, an animal’s
physical environment may be changed. Here at the Ohio Bird
Sanctuary, we will add new perches to a bird’s mew or change the
way the logs are arranged. Anything that gives the bird a “new
view” of it’s surroundings. Enrichment could also be through
human interaction and training. Diesel, our Red-Shouldered Hawk, has
been in training to do free flights. After learning to fly from
perch to perch to the glove, now he might free-fly into a nearby tree
and then come back to the glove for a food reward when he hears our
whistle. This training keeps Diesel’s brain stimulated, and it’s
good exercise. Another type of enrichment is through scents. This
type of enrichment is very effective with large carnivores, like
bears and big cats, who rely heavily on their sense of smell. It
won’t work for every bird, as most birds do not have a good sense
of smell. Turkey vultures, on the other hand, have an excellent
sense of smell that enables them to find carrion, so this type of
enrichment may work well. Social enrichment is another type, in
which an animal has the opportunity to interact with members of its
own species or with another species. Finally, creating diet puzzles,
such as putting food items in a paper towel tube and folding up the
ends, allows an animal to work for its food the way it would have to
in the wild. A diet puzzle could also be something as simple as
making ice cubes with food inside.
An
example of a diet puzzle--freezing food in GIANT ice blocks.
(hoto
from www.oregonzoo.org)
At the Ohio Bird Sanctuary, our birds are no different from other
captive animals in that they need enrichment. Enrichment is
especially important for our American Crows, Cece and Colee. Crows
are very intelligent birds, possessing stellar problem-solving skills
and the ability to mimic. In busy cities, crows have learned to drop
shelled nuts on the street to be cracked by the tires of passing
cars. As if that wasn’t enough, they have also learned to wait for
the all-clear from traffic signals to enter the street and get the
cracked nuts. Crows are smart, and our crows are no exception. If
you ever happen to be at the Sanctuary during feeding time, you may
notice that we will put part of the crows’ diet, such as an egg, in
a cardboard toilet paper tube and fold up the ends. This simple
enrichment activity engages the crows’ problem-solving skills.
Colee has even learned that if he dunks the food package in his water
bowl, the cardboard softens and he can easily extract the egg. For
my internship project, I have decided to compile an enrichment guide,
specifically for our crows, but including enrichment ideas for our
birds of prey as well. When designing enrichment, you need to
consider the animal’s behavior, personality, habitat, natural
history, and safety. This will ensure that the enrichment is
relevant and safe for the animal.
Training
is another form of enrichment. Here, Diesel our Red-Shouldered Hawk
free-flies.
(Photo
from www.ohiobirdsanctuary.com)
Overall,
enrichment is about creating a better life for animals in captivity.
Animals were not meant to live in captivity, and it is a beautiful
thing to see them thriving in the wild. However, due to human
interference, many animals are forced to reside in captive
environments, whether it is because of an injury or because of
endangered status, or for other reasons. Since most of the time it
is our fault, we must take on the responsibility of giving these
animals the best quality of life possible in captivity. Enrichment
is one way we can fulfill this duty.
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