Making Enrichment

In days past, zoos were little more than menageries designed solely for the enjoyment of people. Animals were often kept in un-stimulating, inadequate exhibits, and animals quickly became bored and unhappy. This led to what we call “stereotypic behaviors”; abnormal behaviors commonly associated with animals who are dissatisfied and distressed. Stereotypic behaviors include things like pacing, swaying, rocking, overgrooming, feather or hair-plucking, or other repetitive motions. At a time when zoos focused solely on taxonomy and entertainment, the science of zoo animal care had yet to evolve into what it is today, often resulting in the classic image of what we think of as an “unhappy animal”: pacing, lonely, and acting nothing like it’s wild counterparts.
Today, as zoos have evolved and many lessons of the past have been learned, the focus is on education, conservation and the well-being of species. The Oakland Zoo is itself an excellent example of the transformation that zoos have undergone in the past 20-30 years. Gone are the days of concrete enclosures with metal bars that bear no resemblance to the wild. Instead, the zoo now provides naturalistic enclosures designed to encourage natural behaviors, family structures similar to a wild family, and incorporates an in-depth enrichment program into the care of all of our animals.

You can gain community service hours by participating in our enrichment program, designing and making enrichment for one of our animals. Your enrichment will help us provide a better life for the species who live here, as well as keep our animals as wild as possible.

What is Enrichment?
Enrichment is a term that describes a vast array of activities provided for captive wildlife. These activities can stimulate natural behaviors, such as scent marking, aggressive posturing, vocalizations or play behavior. Enrichment activities increase natural behavior and improve quality of life.

Enrichment activities can be a number of things. From spraying perfume on logs to get lions to scratch, rub or scent mark, to highly complex, computer run, random, mechanical food dispensers that simulate hunting. Some animals are offered live fish to catch in pools, others receive “puzzle feeders” to lengthen the time they spend feeding. Many activities are put on a schedule, and rotated to retain their novelty. This keeps the game fun. Other activities just need to be time consuming, and give the animal work or purpose. For example, a sunbear in the wild would spend the vast majority of its time walking around the forest floor foraging for food. If, in the zoo, we fed them 3 square meals a day, the rest of their day would essentially have no purpose, resulting in bored animals. Rather than feed out a breakfast, lunch and dinner, keepers instead spread a variety of food around the 1-acre, naturalistic enclosure twice a day, so that our sunbears also spend the majority of their time foraging, encouraging natural behaviors.

Variety is the key to providing satisfying activities. Introducing new scents, objects, sounds and tastes keep the animals stimulated, and interested in their environment. This not only creates a healthier animal, but provides our zoo guests with a more educational experience. Enrichment can provide the opportunity to watch a giraffe use it’s 18-inch, prehensile( grabbing) tongue to obtain food from a puzzle feeder. By watching this, you will have observed how a giraffe browses in Africa!

How do we come up with activity ideas? This is where knowing the animals becomes important. The keepers are often the ones to create new plans, based on both the natural history of the species, and knowing the individual animals themselves. You would not want to offer branches on ropes if an antelope will eat the rope- this could make them sick. Or, chimpanzees may like popsicles made with fruit and juice, but for a lion, you’d better make a BLOOD-sicle! Likewise, just as people have individual tastes and preferences, animals can often be equally as choosy. Creativity and animal experience are a necessary combination for generating new enrichment activities.

What types of things can I use in enrichment?
Safety for the animals is an important concern when designing and making enrichment. The following are good types of items that are safe and stimulating for the animals:

• cardboard boxes (with tape ripped off)
• paper towel and toilet paper rolls
• non-toxic children’s markers or crayons (i.e., Crayola, Roseart)
• spices (cinnamon, bay leaf, nutmeg, chili powder, etc.)
• stuffed animals
• blankets
• fresh fruit or vegetables (pre-washed)
• condiments, such as honey, peanut butter, etc.
• dried fruit
• popcorn (unbuttered and unsalted)
• rawhide
• commercial pet toys (such as kings, bird toys, etc)

What should NOT be used in enrichment?
The following are items we cannot include in enrichment, for the purpose of animal safety:

• plastic tape (use masking tape instead)
• plastic bags
• paper bags with handles (please rip all handles off)
• toxic markers
• staples or nails
• any toys with small plastic parts, which may be ingested and choked on
• For various safety and quality control reasons, we ask that you not include any raw meat in your enrichment. If you are interested in making carnivore enrichment incorporating meat, please call and arrange this beforehand, and the zoo will provide the meat for you, to be included on the day you bring your enrichment in to be played with.

What kind of enrichment can I make?
Animals of all species and types need enrichment, but enrichment can be relatively simple and yet still be a hit for many different species. For example, a “treat box” is a great way to get animals thinking, smelling, and exploring. Simply get a box, or several boxes, and fill it up with shredded paper, spices and/or snacks. To get animals to explore more, smaller boxes can be put inside bigger boxes to keep animals busy and interested longer. The outsides of the boxes can be colored to look interesting to the animals.

Other types of enrichment can be catered to specific species’ tastes and preferences. If you have an idea for enrichment, but are not sure if it will be appropriate for your animal, don’t hesitate to call and ask us!

How do I earn my community service hours this way?
First, call or email Melinda Sievert at least two weeks in advance, at (510) 632-9525 x201 or melinda@oaklandzoo.org, to let us know you are planning to make an enrichment project. We will assign you an animal you will be making enrichment for, to ensure that all animals in the zoo get enrichment in accordance with their keeper’s enrichment schedules. We will discuss options and “outline” of what kind of enrichment you will be making, and a potential timeline for when you would like to bring your enrichment in. Due to the animals’ enrichment schedules, we cannot always guarantee a specific date, and to ensure safety for animals and keepers, enrichment must usually be put into the exhibits early in the mornings, before the animals go out for the day. Once you have contacted us, we will answer any questions you may have, and set up a date and time for your enrichment experience. When you begin to make your enrichment, keep track of the hours you put in to its creation and include the time you spend watching the animal with your enrichment. Have this total number with you when you come to the zoo to see your enrichment being used. When you come to the zoo, you will receive a certificate with your name and number of hours.

If you are interested in receiving additional community service hours, take up an enrichment collection for the zoo! Collect items from your home, neighbors, classmates or family from our enrichment wish list (see below). Keep track of the hours you spend collecting the items, and add them to your total number of hours. Bring the items in to the zoo, and you will have earned additional hours, AND done the zoo a huge favor!

ENRICHMENT WISH LIST
Things you may already have around the house:

• Perfumes
• Spices
• Towels
• Tennis balls
• Raffia
• Cornstalks
• Large nuts in the shell
• Cardboard baby books
• Plastic garden toys (i.e. flamingoes)
• Telephone books
• Blankets

Things that can be purchased at most pet stores:

• Kongs
• Manufactured parrot toys
• Large catnip cat toys
• Any horse toys
• Jolly balls

The Oakland Zoo thanks you for taking an interest in our enrichment program. We hope you find your project to be just as enriching to yourself as it is to the animals! If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact Melinda Sievert at melinda@oaklandzoo.org or (510) 632-9525 x201.