Environmental Enrichment

Here at the Cotswold Wildlife Park we are in the process of setting up enrichment programmes on all the animal sections.

Environmental enrichment means using various methods to encourage a species natural behaviour, and satisfy the animal’s physical and psychological needs.

The aim of enrichment is to increase the animal’s well being by exercise, satisfying behavioural needs and optimising the level of stimulation that animals receive.

Enrichment techniques can be categorised as follows,

1. Food based enrichment- using their diet, and seasonal foods, and feeding in different ways to encourage natural behaviours/ exercise. Hanging foods, feeding devices, paper sacks or boxes, whole foods, ice blocks with food in- these are a few examples that can be used for all species
2. Sensory enrichment- this is using any of the senses- smell, sight, sound, touch and taste. A popular form of sensory enrichment is olfactory using varying smells, i.e., herbs, predator muck, fruits, perfumes. Also audio enrichment is good for some species like primates/ bats
3. Social enrichment- this is simply keeping social animals in social groups which then encourages natural social behaviours.
4. Novel objects- Toys, boomer balls, Kong’s, bags and boxes. These can simply be used on their own or be used with food or olfactory. These can just help stimulate the animal’s sight or movement without having to be food based all the time.
5. Training/ Conditioning- positive reinforcement training is very popular now with many species not only for demonstration purposes, but for health checks and routine veterinary care. Training can be done with most species at varying levels. Primates and mammals can enjoy training because it is stimulating them mentally and physically. It can help the keepers do basic health checks on animals that would normally have to be sedated for checks otherwise.

SECTION ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME

The idea behind the enrichment programme is that all staff within the sections become involved in all areas of enrichment and it is all documented for non- keeping staff, future staff and non- staff visitors to see and learn from. Each month a schedule is devised so that everyday some enrichment is done for different animals. This means all the animals will benefit and the keepers will learn more about the animals.

Animals react to things in different ways, some animals may not react at all and some may react negatively or positively. If the animal doesn’t interact with an object it doesn’t mean it’s been unsuccessful, we are giving the animal’s the choice to do something, but monitoring and recording what happens is necessary for us to learn more.

Purple- Faced Leaf Monkey eating bamboo leaves from a hanging basket.

These primates live mainly on leaves in the wild and to make them forage for the food and climb like they would in the wild, we have hung their food in a basket so they have to work to get it. This enrichment encourages them to use natural climbing and foraging behaviours.

If you happen to see odd objects in enclosures, such as barrels or things hung like baskets or hay nets, this is what it is. This is Environmental Enrichment. We are trying new and interesting things all the time and as things progress we will update the page and add photos and explanations to what we have done and how they are working.

This is one of our Red Handed Tamarins situated in the restaurant. We have put some of its diet in a bird feeder so it has to manipulate the food to retrieve it. This increases the animal’s feeding time and make’s them work to get their food and use their mind’s to figure out how to retrieve, so it is there for stimulating both mind and body.

Want to Help?

A visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park can now be even more worthwhile. By adopting an animal, you can provide a helpful contribution towards the costs of keeping and feeding the animals and supporting our conservation breeding programmes... click here for more information