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Shop Talk
I'm posting something I wrote for work, here. It's pretty painfully dry, but if you are interested in animal husbandry/zookeeping/animal behavior, etc., let me know what you think.
Enrichment Notebook
I. What is "enrichment"? (definition)
"Environmental enrichment is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing the environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological well-being. In practice, this covers a multitude of innovative, imaginative, and ingenious techniques, devices, and practices aimed at keeping captive animals occupied, increasing the range and diversity of behavioral opportunities, and providing more stimulating and responsive environments." (Shepherdson, p.1)
“Enrichment” is the implementation of devices and practices that provide captive animals with behavioral opportunities and mental stimulation. (My short version.)
II. What is the purpose of enrichment? (as pertains to Drumlin Farm)
Enrichment increases the well-being of captive animals by reducing stress, inducing exercise, and providing stimulation. The expectation is that properly enriched animals will be healthier, require less veterinary expenses, and live longer.
Enrichment for the exhibit animals results in more natural animal behavior and less “stereotype” behavior (for example: pacing), which improves the educational quality of the exhibits.
Also, some forms of enrichment allow “positive interaction with caregivers” and can “facilitate routine husbandry activities.” (See “training” below.) In particular, enrichment could help with the “ease of use” of our program animals by education staff.
"[An] important goal of enrichment is education and enlightenment of ... visitors by means of exhibits that are 'enriched' and therefore more informative and interesting." (Shepherdson, pp.2-3)
III. What counts as enrichment?
a. feeding
Most wild animals spend a good part of their life searching for food. Captive animals are generally deprived of this experience. "Scattering an animal's daily ration around its exhibit, freezing its food into blocks of ice, or hiding it, rather that simply placing it in a bowl, [constitute] effective form[s] of enrichment." (Shepherdson, p.1)
b. novel objects
c. environmental enrichment
d. olfactory/auditory enrichment
e. training
"The training of animals can ... be viewed as an enrichment activity because it engages the animals on a cognitive level, allows positive interaction with caregivers, and facilitates routine husbandry activities." (Shepherdson, p.1)
IV. what are we doing now to provide enrichment?
a. Mammals 1-4 program, 5-8 exhibit (Drumlin Underground)
1. Carrier covers (shelter)
2. Shredded newspaper (mammal can gather for bedding)
3. Paper bags (mammal can use as shelter, also treats can be hidden in paper bag full of shredded newspaper to induce foraging.)
4. “Treat logs” (small logs with holes drilled in them—food items can be stuffed into holes to induce gnawing and foraging.)
5. Hollow logs (mammal can use as shelter or run-through)
6. Hay (mammal can use for bedding)
7. Natural substrate (concrete enclosures are lined with soil and dead leaves—mammal can dig in soil and leaves, gather leaves for bedding, etc. Also provides olfactory stimulation.
8. Food scattering (food items are scattered around enclosure, inducing foraging. In the case of the skunk, mealworms are buried in soil, inducing naturalistic foraging behavior.)
b. Birds
1. Natural wood perches of varied diameters and in varied locations (bird can choose where to perch.)
2. Whole carcass feeding (birds of prey are given whole dead mice, inducing naturalistic carcass dissecting behavior.)
3. During daytime, waterfowl are provided with swimming pools (children’s pools) and are kept in outdoor enclosures with soil and/or grass substrates.
c. herps
1. Herps all have hiding places of some kind.
2. Turtles are put in outdoor enclosures during some parts of some warm weather days.
V. Recommendations.
a. All wildlife care staff should come to agreement on the subject of animal enrichment, and review enrichment techniques together. Especially novel enrichment techniques should be reviewed by a veterinarian, for safety reasons. Enrichment techniques should be evaluated for their effect on animal behavior (whether the technique induces normal behavior, and whether the technique affects how easy the animal is to work with and around), their expense (in terms of money, materials, and staff time), and safety.
b. Enrichment techniques should be integrated into daily chores. Simple, diet-related enrichment techniques (eg: food puzzles) can be accomplished without contact with the animals (meaning that volunteers can be utilized) and without adding much extra time to the daily chores.
c. Enrichment techniques could also be integrated into the wildlife care staff’s visitor education duties. Animal enrichment can be very interesting to watch, and the potential for visitor education programs relating to enrichment is vast and relatively untapped.
d. New enrichment techniques should be documented when introduced. The enrichment notebook should include photographs and descriptions of various techniques, as well as recommendations of which animals to use which techniques, and a history of what techniques have been tried, etc.
e. Daily enrichment should be tracked, so that animals receive enrichment based on need rather than other considerations.
f. Our enrichment program should be known to all staff, and promoted in visitor information (and the web site?). The fact that we are structuring a new program to improve our animals’ well-being is an opportunity for positive public relations. Likewise, publicizing that enrichment techniques are being used for our animals could draw visitors interested in animal behavior, and raise awareness of our wildlife exhibits and ark programs.
g. Animal training techniques should be investigated. How can we use the training techniques we currently utilize more effectively, and what new techniques could we learn. How are we unintentionally training behaviors, and how could we become more aware of “passive training?”
VI. What references and resources are available for enrichment ideas and concerns?
a. websites:
1. http://www.animalenrichment.org/ (Disney)
2. http://www.enrichmentonline.org/browse/index.asp (Fort Worth Zoo)
3. http://www.honoluluzoo.org/enrichment_activities.htm
b. publications:
1. Second Nature: Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals. David J. Shepherdson et al, eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.
2. Wild Mammals in Captivity; Principles and Techniques. Devra G. Kleiman et al, eds. University of Chicago Press, 1997.
cross-posted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
animal_behavior, zookeepers
Enrichment Notebook
I. What is "enrichment"? (definition)
"Environmental enrichment is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing the environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological well-being. In practice, this covers a multitude of innovative, imaginative, and ingenious techniques, devices, and practices aimed at keeping captive animals occupied, increasing the range and diversity of behavioral opportunities, and providing more stimulating and responsive environments." (Shepherdson, p.1)
“Enrichment” is the implementation of devices and practices that provide captive animals with behavioral opportunities and mental stimulation. (My short version.)
II. What is the purpose of enrichment? (as pertains to Drumlin Farm)
Enrichment increases the well-being of captive animals by reducing stress, inducing exercise, and providing stimulation. The expectation is that properly enriched animals will be healthier, require less veterinary expenses, and live longer.
Enrichment for the exhibit animals results in more natural animal behavior and less “stereotype” behavior (for example: pacing), which improves the educational quality of the exhibits.
Also, some forms of enrichment allow “positive interaction with caregivers” and can “facilitate routine husbandry activities.” (See “training” below.) In particular, enrichment could help with the “ease of use” of our program animals by education staff.
"[An] important goal of enrichment is education and enlightenment of ... visitors by means of exhibits that are 'enriched' and therefore more informative and interesting." (Shepherdson, pp.2-3)
III. What counts as enrichment?
a. feeding
Most wild animals spend a good part of their life searching for food. Captive animals are generally deprived of this experience. "Scattering an animal's daily ration around its exhibit, freezing its food into blocks of ice, or hiding it, rather that simply placing it in a bowl, [constitute] effective form[s] of enrichment." (Shepherdson, p.1)
b. novel objects
c. environmental enrichment
d. olfactory/auditory enrichment
e. training
"The training of animals can ... be viewed as an enrichment activity because it engages the animals on a cognitive level, allows positive interaction with caregivers, and facilitates routine husbandry activities." (Shepherdson, p.1)
IV. what are we doing now to provide enrichment?
a. Mammals 1-4 program, 5-8 exhibit (Drumlin Underground)
1. Carrier covers (shelter)
2. Shredded newspaper (mammal can gather for bedding)
3. Paper bags (mammal can use as shelter, also treats can be hidden in paper bag full of shredded newspaper to induce foraging.)
4. “Treat logs” (small logs with holes drilled in them—food items can be stuffed into holes to induce gnawing and foraging.)
5. Hollow logs (mammal can use as shelter or run-through)
6. Hay (mammal can use for bedding)
7. Natural substrate (concrete enclosures are lined with soil and dead leaves—mammal can dig in soil and leaves, gather leaves for bedding, etc. Also provides olfactory stimulation.
8. Food scattering (food items are scattered around enclosure, inducing foraging. In the case of the skunk, mealworms are buried in soil, inducing naturalistic foraging behavior.)
b. Birds
1. Natural wood perches of varied diameters and in varied locations (bird can choose where to perch.)
2. Whole carcass feeding (birds of prey are given whole dead mice, inducing naturalistic carcass dissecting behavior.)
3. During daytime, waterfowl are provided with swimming pools (children’s pools) and are kept in outdoor enclosures with soil and/or grass substrates.
c. herps
1. Herps all have hiding places of some kind.
2. Turtles are put in outdoor enclosures during some parts of some warm weather days.
V. Recommendations.
a. All wildlife care staff should come to agreement on the subject of animal enrichment, and review enrichment techniques together. Especially novel enrichment techniques should be reviewed by a veterinarian, for safety reasons. Enrichment techniques should be evaluated for their effect on animal behavior (whether the technique induces normal behavior, and whether the technique affects how easy the animal is to work with and around), their expense (in terms of money, materials, and staff time), and safety.
b. Enrichment techniques should be integrated into daily chores. Simple, diet-related enrichment techniques (eg: food puzzles) can be accomplished without contact with the animals (meaning that volunteers can be utilized) and without adding much extra time to the daily chores.
c. Enrichment techniques could also be integrated into the wildlife care staff’s visitor education duties. Animal enrichment can be very interesting to watch, and the potential for visitor education programs relating to enrichment is vast and relatively untapped.
d. New enrichment techniques should be documented when introduced. The enrichment notebook should include photographs and descriptions of various techniques, as well as recommendations of which animals to use which techniques, and a history of what techniques have been tried, etc.
e. Daily enrichment should be tracked, so that animals receive enrichment based on need rather than other considerations.
f. Our enrichment program should be known to all staff, and promoted in visitor information (and the web site?). The fact that we are structuring a new program to improve our animals’ well-being is an opportunity for positive public relations. Likewise, publicizing that enrichment techniques are being used for our animals could draw visitors interested in animal behavior, and raise awareness of our wildlife exhibits and ark programs.
g. Animal training techniques should be investigated. How can we use the training techniques we currently utilize more effectively, and what new techniques could we learn. How are we unintentionally training behaviors, and how could we become more aware of “passive training?”
VI. What references and resources are available for enrichment ideas and concerns?
a. websites:
1. http://www.animalenrichment.org/ (Disney)
2. http://www.enrichmentonline.org/browse/index.asp (Fort Worth Zoo)
3. http://www.honoluluzoo.org/enrichment_activities.htm
b. publications:
1. Second Nature: Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals. David J. Shepherdson et al, eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.
2. Wild Mammals in Captivity; Principles and Techniques. Devra G. Kleiman et al, eds. University of Chicago Press, 1997.
cross-posted to
animal_behavior, zookeepers
no subject
Thanks for the long response. I really appreciate it.
I used the term "stereotype behavior," partly because I love jargon (see above sentence), and party because that's the term used for undesirable behaviors like pacing and stall chewing in "Second Nature" (my primary source). I can change it if you think that it's confusing (and just say "undesirable behaviors").
Out of cage time is actually one of the current enrichment techniques used by my coworkers. Unfortunately, we don't really have a good place to do it. We are working on constructing an enrichment area (a bigger cage, with "toys" in it), but right now my coworkers just let the monsters run around and destroy our office. (This has cured me of the delusion that woodchucks are cute. Well, that, and my trip to the emergency room to get my rabies shots...) The walking birds (unflighted waterfowl, turkey, turkey vulture) are allowed to roam around some too.
We are pretty good about communicating to the public that these are wild animals, not our pets, and that they wouldn't make good pets. Drumlin Farm and Mass Audubon has a pretty good mission statement, and we are good at delivering our message, I think. People will always be stupid about wildlife: feeding raccoons, "rescuing" babies, etc. If someone wants to set out a treat log for their wild woodchucks, they can knock themselves out for all I care. Anyway, bitter ranting aside, ideally we would make it crystal clear that enrichment is for captive animals, not wild ones.
I'd love to continue the conversation! It's always nice to talk to professionals. (even if you aren't in the profession right now.)
You're over on rt. 20, I'm up on 117! I'm the one riding his bike home on 117 through Weston and Waltham--without spandex.
no subject
That stinks that you don't have a great place for out-of-cage time. I'm not sure of your setup, but would it be possible to allow the animals out-of-cage time during cage cleanings? Or do they all go into carriers for cleaning time? If it's feasible, maybe just letting them run about while their cage is cleaned would help (obviously only applicable to small mammals). Of course, staff would have to be extra careful if animals were out to make sure no on got stepped on or hurt.
I love the pic of the woodchuck on the desk -- cute, but I'm sure also horrifically destructive!