Food is frequently used as an enrichment tool because it solicits the natural hunting and foraging behaviors of animals. Providing task oriented puzzle feeders and presenting food in different ways encourages animals to think and work for their food, as they would in the wild.  Food with interesting textures or new flavors, and food that is hidden in hard to reach places, all make good enrichment. Many animals love "Popsicles," not the kind people eat but special ones zookeepers make like meatcicles for tigers or fruitcicles for primates. One of the Zoo's tigers used to put her bone popsicles into the tiger pool to make them melt faster!

A wolverine investigates a Popsicle...	and decides it is worth further research!

Novel objects are enrichment items that can be manipulated in some way with hands, paws or hooves, mouths, horns or even tails.  Placing these objects in an animal's environment can cause the animal to display all kinds of natural behaviors ranging from exploration to play.  Paper mache piñatas to stalk and tear apart, boomer balls to bat around, a telephone book or box to  shred and even kong toys and chew ropes (the kind you might use at home for your pets), can all be lots of fun for animals.

Non-natural objects, such as balls and boxes, are usually used in the animals’ off exhibit spaces but novel objects can be natural too.  Gourds, coconuts, pine cones, pumpkins and fir trees all make great enrichment.  Depending on the size of the animal, branches or whole fir trees are put into exhibits for the animals to investigate, move around, and tear apart. These items help the animals perform necessary behaviors during natural seasonal cycles. Placing branches in the moose and caribou exhibits during rut, for example, helps the animals to shed the velvet on their antlers.

A puma sizes up a piñata made by a school class.	A tiger pounces on a camel-hide mannequin.

For wild animals, social behavior is key to their survival.  Courtship and reproduction, feeding and foraging, territoriality and defense can all be social in nature.  We strive to maintain our animals in appropriate social groups (housed alone if they are solitary or in herds or families if they are social).  Many of our exhibits house multiple species which presents both behavioral challenges and opportunities. 

Positive, appropriate interaction between keepers and animals helps build trust and aids in the daily care of the animals.  Beyond the day to day routine interaction, our zookeepers/trainers also use operant conditioning techniques to train many of our animals.    Training provides necessary mental stimulation because it involves learning.  The animals learn to perform behaviors in response to the trainer’s cues and are rewarded for correct responses. 

In addition to providing beneficial mental stimulation, training husbandry behaviors allows the zookeepers and vets to examine and care for the animals without using procedures that are more invasive and stressful. Animals are taught to go on scale for weighing, to present various body parts for examination and even to allow staff to perform ultrasounds, give vaccinations or take blood.  By teaching the animals to cooperate in their care, we can provide them the best care without undue stress.