Environmental Enrichment
Africa Rainforest Enrichment | Africa Savanna Enrichment | Alaska Tundra Enrichment
Bear Enrichment | Cascade Enrichment | Elephant Enrichment | Primate Enrichment
Vollum Aviary Enrichment
Food dispensers consisting of a length of plastic piping with holes drilled into the side are filled with small food items such as raisins, nuts, etc. The monkeys pick the piping up and manipulate it to get the food out.
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Mongoose Enrichment
An insect dispenser behind the fallen tree drops meal worms into the sand for the mongoose to dig for.
Colobus Monkey Enrichment
Complex climbing structure " rope netting " water mister " boomer ball
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Aim
To provide and interesting, stimulating environment in which the animals can display as much of their natural abilities as possible.
Grizzly Bears
Food items such as peanut butter, fruit pie filling, raisins, sunflower seeds, etc. are stuffed into small holes around the exhibit. Scatter feedings in the afternoon also keep them busy.
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Aim
To provide an environment in which the bears are able to show as many of their natural behaviors as possible and which satisfies their psychological needs as closely as possible.
General
Bears are intelligent and extremely inquisitive animals. Wild bears spend much of their time feeding or exploring their environment (using sound, scent and vision) for possible food sources. In the zoo we attempt to recreate these opportunities by hiding foods such as honey, preserves, mustard and tomato sauce in holes drilled into logs distributed throughout exhibits. Small logs, with holes drilled in them for food, are also hung from chains in several exhibits (American Black bears and Sun bears) to make the task more challenging.
In addition, small food items such as raisins, seeds and chopped fruit are scattered throughout exhibits for the bears to search for. Some of the more unusual foods used for enrichment include sunflower seeds, dried chilies and mango fruit. All the bears love to gnaw on bones that are given twice per week.
Polar Bears
Occasionally the polar bears receive lumps of ice containing frozen food items. Polar bears are also given plastic balls and tubs to manipulate, play with and ultimately destroy.
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Aim
To provide and interesting, stimulating environment in which the animals can display as much of their natural abilities as possible.
Beavers
Beavers are fed branches clamped in metal clamps so that they can 'fell' them by gnawing.
Otters
Otters are given objects to play with and investigate such as plastic buckets, balls and rubber dog toys. Sometimes these balls and toys are filled with water and fish then frozen overnight. The otters spend hours playing, trying to get the fish out as they melt. Occasionally live fish, crawdads and shellfish are given to the otters.
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Interactions with other elephants and with keepers is an important part of an elephant's life. The training that the elephants engage in for husbandry routines, such as foot trimming, involves the elephants in complex intellectual tasks. In order for an animal to be trained it has to work out and understand what it is being asked to do.
In addition, the elephants are fed many times a day and given hay to munch on. Boomer Balls with small holes drilled in them are filled with raisins, nuts, etc. and placed in the mangers so that by throwing the balls around bits of food fall out. Some of the elephants will kick the balls around and play with them. Packy, however, usually treads on them and destroys them in short order. Food is scattered in the yard and hidden in holes and under logs. Novel smells -- such as extract of tiger urine! -- are placed in the yards at unexpected times.
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General
Primates as a group have evolved to live in complex societies. The most important aspect of their environment, therefore, is the presence of others with which to interact. After social behavior, wild primates spend most of their time looking for food, and this is an important aspect of captive husbandry.
The primates are fed many times per day with food items that require much searching and processing (for example, small seed thrown into the straw that covers the enclosure floor). Rope nets and complex wooden climbing structures help to recreate the arboreal environment that many of these animals experience in the wild. Novel objects such as magazines, pet toys, buckets, etc. also provide the animals with stimulating situations.
Social interactions in captivity are frequently more intense than they would be in the wild because the animals are closer together and because there are less alternatives to social interaction. By providing the animals with alternative activities some social behaviors, such as aggression, can frequently be reduced, thus lowering the stress of captivity and, in some cases, increasing the chances of reproduction.
Chimpanzees
The artificial termite mound in the outside yard is frequently stocked with apple sauce, apple butter, jelly or tomato catsup. The chimpanzees use sticks as tools to get this.
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Meal worms and crickets placed in clear plastic tubes holes are placed on the ground for the birds. Different birds use different techniques to get the insects. Hornbills roll the tube along the ground until the insects fall out, and egrets pick them out with their long slim bill.
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