How do you teach a bear to behave, well, like a bear?
The Minnesota Zoo is doing just that through animal enrichment.
Zookeepers try to give the animals the wildlife experience of fighting for food, territory and safety through skill-building experiences. They use food “pinatas,” predator scent trails and new vines or branches to climb to keep animals’ senses alert and to encourage behaviors like those of an animal in the wild.
In the past, zookeepers relied on things like balls and toys, said Katie Hall, director of animal behavior and wellbeing. But they’re moving toward a more natural, holistic approach that encourages animals to accomplish a “natural behavior.” For instance, they give driftwood to penguins during nesting season. “This is a seasonally appropriate behavior that the animals are motivated to do, and we provide them the environmental resources for successful nest building, breeding, incubating and chick rearing,” Hall said.
That, in turn, gives the animals — not the staff — the agency to make choices that help them survive and thrive.
We talked to Hall, who works with a team of staff and volunteers, about why termites are toys for tamanduas and which animals find raccoon urine more fun than a soccer ball. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: What is animal enrichment and why is it so important?
A: Historically, animal enrichment are toys or items that we give to animals, but we’re trying to move away from that and transition to focus on behavioral goals and outcome-based husbandry, or enriched experiences. These experiences could be a multi-day, multi-sensory experience that has adaptive value and allows the animal to make appropriate behavioral choices in their environment. By this I mean, if we had to release all our animals back into the wilds tomorrow, what skills would they need to survive, and how can we set up the environment here to give them the opportunities to express those species-specific behaviors.
