How to Develop a Zoo-Based Environmental Enrichment Program: Incorporating Environmental Enrichment into Exhibits

Research, conservation, leisure, and education are the maingoals of zoos. To achieve these aims, zoos need to maintaina high level of animal welfare. One action undertaken to improve the psychological aspects of the captive animal’s lifehas been the abandonment of “hard” architecture (enclosures with iron bars and concrete walls and fl oors) and theadoption of “naturalistic” architecture (exhibits that imitatethe appearance of animals’ natural environments) (Hagenbeck ; see also Hancocks, chap. , this volume), but thisapproach, too, can be criticized, since “green spaces are notalways enough” (Coe , ). Studies have shown thatcaptive animals can be stressed and perform abnormal behaviors in large naturalistic enclosures (Carlstead et al. ;Stoinski, Hoff , and Maple ; Young ).Environmental enrichment, as stated by Shepherdson,Mellen, and Hutchins in their book Second Nature (),is a principle of animal husbandry that enhances the quality of captive animals’ lives by identifying and providing theenvironmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychologicaland physiological well- being. Many studies have confi rmedthe welfare benefi ts of environmental enrichment for captiveanimals (for a review, see Young ; see also Shepherdson,chap. , this volume).Environmental enrichment can be built into animal exhibits in the form of structures that the animals can use, suchas undulating terrain and elevated resting sites (Tudge ;Mallapur ), or in the form of enrichment devices, whichprovoke or allow animals to express species- specifi c behaviorpatterns (Chamove and Anderson ; Evans ; Young; Vick, Anderson, and Young ; Grindrod and Cleaver). Environmental enrichment benefi ts should transcendtheir costs and be a useful tool in improving animal welfare.However, enrichment needs to be well planned to achieveits goals; otherwise it can be more damaging than benefi cial(Baer ).In this chapter, we will outline the necessary steps for thecreation and establishment of an environmental enrichmentprogram for zoos and the steps to incorporate environmentalenrichment into exhibits; with a few adjustments, laboratories, farms, and other institutions that hold captive animalscould also use these guidelines to create their own environmental enrichment programs. An overview of the processnecessary to implement