Enrichment

Making the captive environments of our animals as complex, engaging and enriched as they can be is the goal of the Detroit Zoological Society’s Enrichment Program.

SMASHING PUMPKINS AT THE DETROIT ZOO - October 28, 2009 

Detroit Zoo animals will have a smashing good time on Wednesday, October 28, 2009, when they receive pumpkins filled with tasty treats and scents – to eat, play with, roll around in, tear apart and smash.  Each year around Halloween, the Zoo’s environmental enrichment staff uses pumpkins, gourds and corn stalks as special holiday treats for the animals.

Enrichment items are hidden throughout the animals’ habitats or prepared and placed in a unique manner to stimulate various behaviors.  For example, the primates’ pumpkins will be carved out and filled with red-colored pasta.  “The chimps enjoy digging in and eating the ghoulish spaghetti,” said Enrichment Programs Manager Elizabeth Arbaugh.  She predicts that the other animals will enjoy pushing, playing with, smashing and devouring their treats.

Enrichment Schedule:
• 10 a.m. – Chimpanzees (spaghetti-filled pumpkins)
• 10:30 a.m. – Storks (pumpkins)
• 11 a.m. – Snow monkeys (JELL-O treats)
• 11:30 a.m. – Rhinos (pumpkins and corn stalks)
• Noon – Zebras (corn stalks)
• 12:30 p.m. – Grizzly bears (treat-filled piñata)
• 1 p.m. – Bison (pumpkins and corn stalks)
• 1:30 p.m. – Wolverines (piñata, pumpkins and spaghetti)
• 2 p.m. – Polar bears (pumpkins)

The Halloween treats are among the many forms of enrichment used daily at the Detroit Zoo to help make the environments of the animals more dynamic and engaging.  Environmental enrichment includes the introduction of novel and sometimes unpredictable elements such as objects, sounds, scents or other stimuli that encourage the animals to respond in species-typical ways, give them choice and control over their environment, and engage them in “work” to obtain food, much as they would in the wild.

What is enrichment?
Enrichment is the process of enhancing over-all captive animal welfare by providing appropriate physical, social, and environmental conditions and stimuli. Enrichment is a dynamic process based on each animal’s biology, natural history and individual needs. Continuous monitoring of individual animal’s unique needs in conjunction with regular refinement of enrichment practices ensures continued complexity of the animal’s environment and encourages and engages them in species typical behaviors.

• • • How do animals benefit from enrichment?
      Increases over-all animal welfare by providing physical and psychological stimuli.
      
      Provides opportunities for species typical behavior.
      
      Provides opportunities for choice and control over environment.
      
      Alleviates boredom and stereotypic behaviors.
      
      Promotes activity.
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