ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENTThe aim of this page is to collect ideas
about Environmental Enrichment , and present them in a form that is
accessible to as many people as possible. Once a sufficient number have been collected
they will be incorporated into a database. The Guidelines for
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Birds |
Primates |
Fruit Kebabs
Fruit pieces are speared 'shish kebab' style on pieces of thick wire. These are then hung on branches and ropes for the birds to manipulate and remove the fruit. Cuttings from conifers are sometimes wound round the wire to increase the complexity of the task.
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Forage Boxes
These are galvanised trays attached to the mesh of the enclosure. They are filled with a few sunflower seeds or peanuts, which are then mixed with bark, requiring the parrot to forage for the seeds. These trays are sometimes filled with bark alone, lending some degree of unpredictability to the technique.
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Pineapple Tops
Unusual items are sometimes places in the aviaries to stimulate the birds' interest. Among other things, the green tops of pineapples have been tried, sometimes with a little pineapple left attached or with food items hidden between the leaves. These can be suspended from, or speared onto, branches.
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Whole Nuts
Whole
An alternative idea is to make small mesh containers that will hold a few
nuts. The birds must break the nuts within the container before they can
remove them.
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Food in Water
Most enclosures have a small pool in which the birds can bathe. A small amount of seed is thrown into the pool, this is retrieved by the birds. A great deal of excitement can occur if the seeds are swirled around by the movement of the water.
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Suspended Bag
A bag/net suspended from a rope, containing a food item. This has worked well with keas (Nestor notabilis).
Flowers
To encourage natural foraging behaviour amongst Lories (Lorius garrulus flavopalliatus, Eos reticulata), flowers are strung in ropes that hang from the aviary roof. This always results in intense activity, with the flowers soon being reduced to a pile of petals.
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Cassowary Feeder
To allow our cassowarys (Cassuarius casuarius) to forage more naturally, a feeder was designed. The feeder is suspended from the trees growing in the enclosure, and can be moved to a new position easily. The birds must shake and peck the feeder to remove the food items within.
The feeder is constructed from a piece of PVC drain pipe of diameter 200mm and of length 700mm. A weld mesh cap was made to fit over one end, this is held in place by a grub screw. The other end of the pipe has a hook to allow attachment to the tree. A considerable portion of the birds daily diet is contained in the feeder and has greatly increased the time the birds spend feeding.
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Large cabbages make cheap, simple yet effective puzzle feeders, as well as providing a source of food on their own. Using an apple corer several small holes are gouged out of the cabbage. A large central hole is cored completely through the cabbage through which a rope can be threaded and then secured with a knot. The other holes can then be filled with a variety of different food treats such as shelled peanuts, dried fruits and mealworms. Honey or peanut butter can also be added to the holes to form a bung so that the other items do not fall out too quickly. The cabbage is then hung from the mesh ceiling of the indoor enclosures to provide a moving edible food puzzle.
The monkeys must reach the cabbage and extract the tasty items. Often they balance on adjoining branches or hang from ceiling or even try and balance on the swinging cabbage itself. It therefore encourages balance, arboreal feeding posture and extractive foraging skills. In our experience this has proved to be an extremely effective food puzzle which is often consumed once the food treats have been recovered. However, it must be stressed that, along with all enrichment devices, it may not be effective for all species with core cages proving to be a too much of a challenge for the lemurs if the cabbage is hung up but much better utilised when simply left on the ground.
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Monkeys will play with a whole variety of objects that do not contain a food reward. When choosing a novel object for a monkey the main consideration to make is if the monkey can injure itself with the object Remember that monkeys are very destructive so ensure that once they destroy the object it does not become harmful. Buttons and zips muse always be removed from clothing. The sort of items that are particularly suitable are old clothes, basketware, children's toys made of hard plastic or wood etc. Do not spend much money on any of these novel items as they will not last long; simply by searching round the zoo, in cupboards at home, in charity shops or by appealing to visitors, a huge amount of monkey "toys" will be found. Charity shops will often donate the items they cannot sell directly.
Novel objects are particularly suitable for the more intelligent species of monkey. Species of macaques and guenons often show interest in a novel object for a considerable length of time. The different textures, smells and shapes of objects seem to provide considerable interest. Some species of lemur and langur seem to be less interested in novel objects and usually after an initial, short interest period the object is not touched again; this can be overcome by careful selection and placement of objects. For example, ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) will play on a scarf hung from a branch, whereas the lion-tailed macaques prefer to carry the scarf around and hang it up where they want to swing, but the De Brazza monkeys (Cercopithecus neglectus) will simply groom all of the fur off the scarf. Food items can be incorporated into novel objects, e.g. hide peanuts in a sock, this helps to maintain interest and requires the monkeys to work for a treat item Monkeys will get bored with a novel object, so vary the use of them and do not give them to the monkeys every day, rather once or twice a week.
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A very simple way of doing this is to wrap various food items up in paper sacks and then tie them up with rope. By varying the number of layers of paper and how tightly the ropes are tied, the complexity of the food parcel can be altered. It is also worth mixing the food item with some straw or wood shavings before wrapping it in paper as this makes the parcel more complex. These food parcels work particularly well with all species of macaque, and also with many guenons, especially De Brazza monkeys. These parcels seem to provide no interest at all for our groups of lemurs or langurs. The paper around the parcel will be ripped off by the monkey and may look untidy 'm the enclosure, and sometimes causes visitors to complain. Ibis is easy to rectify with a simple explanatory sign.
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Another way of introducing foreign scents into an enclosure is to take a scented branch from one enclosure and put it in another one. This has the advantage of allowing the use of branches from the enclosures of predatory animals. This seems to have a similar response to the use of perfume. It is important to note that there is a risk of cross-infection when moving branches from one enclosure to another.
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Some species of monkey, in particular lemurs, spend a considerable amount of time scenting their enclosure. It is very difficult to enrich the lives of lemurs, as they are not interested in any complex enrichment objects. However, one solution seems to be either to spray areas of their enclosure with perfume or introduce a novel object covered in perfume. The lemurs are very interested in the scented area for a considerable length of time, and scent marking by the group is often stimulated. This does lose its stimulus if done too regularly, so it should only be done about once per week. Also, the perfume that we tended to use was unwanted Christmas presents and the whole preproom would end up stinking of cheap perfume. It is worth watering down the perfume to make it last longer and make it smell less strong. It might be worth trying the same technique with other species of monkey, but in our experience it seemed to work best with lemurs.
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
Many of the techniques detailed in this paper have proved to be successful at Edinburgh Zoo, and are a guide to the possibilities available. They are not the definitive guide to primate enrichment, but a base around which to work.
It is difficult to provide a totally enriched environment in a captive situation without using some unnatural items to encourage natural behaviours and stimulate both mind and body. A combination of natural and man-made item can be used to furnish enclosures. Such a combination maximises the range of enrichment available to animals without compromising the overall look of the enclosure.
An enrichment programme should be integrated into daily routines without it being routine, and is simply apart of modern husbandry techniques. Only with the enthusiasm of current and former keepers for creating enriching environments is it possible to provide the primates with much more stimulating lives. A bonus to all this is that the zoo visitor's attitude to animals in captivity is changed from negative to more positive.
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