Bianca Tiger playing hide-and-seek with a favorite toy. Trekkie Gray Wolf enthusiastically rolling and wriggling all over a piece of salmon. Kira Lion proudly dragging and tossing around an evergreen tree (more on that later). If you’ve visited the Animal Park, you’ve likely witnessed scenes like these—and you may remember hearing your guide or docent talking about enrichment.
Enrichment is the process of providing animals in human care “with some form of stimulation in order to encourage natural behaviors, which helps to improve or maintain their physical and mental health,” as UntamedScience.com puts it. The goal, along with inspiring those natural behaviors, is to “stimulate curiosity, and to give animals choice and control in their environment.”
Enrichment 101
Think of everything that makes up a day-to-day part of an animal’s environment, both inside the habitat:
- furnishings, from platforms and hammocks to pools, tunnels, and logs
- trees and plants
- toys, including balls, danglers, scratchers, and puzzle feeders
- food, water, and where those are placed
and alongside it:
- trees and smaller vegetation
- companion or neighboring animal residents
- local wildlife like birds, squirrels, rabbits, and insects
- staff, volunteers, and tour guests
Then consider all the “extras” provided regularly by our keepers, volunteers, and Lifetime Adopters:
- food treats beyond the daily diet
- scent treats, including fresh herbs, essential oils, and items borrowed from other animals’ habitats
- plant material or branches (called “browse”)
- training exercises
- other experiences like painting, listening to music, or story time
When those elements are holistically orchestrated by our animal husbandry staff—including periodically changing out items and approaches—it all adds up to an enriching environment.
Accounting for Taste
Preferences for certain types of enrichment may be shared across a species or family of animals. Many of our predators appreciate the chance to chase, pounce on, or swat a toy, expressing the natural behavior of stalking prey. Our servals enjoy fishing, like their wild counterparts use their long legs and quick paws to hook fish at water’s edge. Our tigers love a dip in their pool, as tigers in the wild hunt, swim, and cool off in bodies of water. Violet Leopard likes to make a graceful ascent to the top of one of her towers, showcasing her species’ climbing skills. If you’ve “oofed” with our lions or howled with our wolves, you’ve helped them participate in natural vocalizations those species would use to communicate in the wild.
And then there are the individual enrichment preferences of each animal, favorites that our staff and volunteers learn by getting to know our residents. Enrichment works best when we observe each animal’s behavior in response to, say, a particular scent, and then adjust our offerings accordingly. Does one of our cats scent-mark the smelly object with their cheek—or in the case of our canid species, do they scent-roll all over it like Trekkie with his salmon? Or do they take one tiny disinterested sniff and walk away? That’s how we learn, for example, that Willow Lion appreciates the aroma of pumpkin spice, while Blitz Eurasian Lynx prefers a fresh-cut lime or banana peel and Reno Bobcat loves the scent of celery.
See Enrichment in Action
Want to learn more about enrichment and each of our animals’ favorites? Reserve your spot for a guided tour of the Park. Or visit at your own pace—and create your own enrichment for our residents—during an event like Tree Toss (2025’s is coming January 18). Watch our animals engage with various types of scents, food treats, their guest-crafted toys, and unsold Christmas trees donated by Cranberry Tree Farm. Yep, Christmas trees! Their scratchy texture and evergreen scent make them much-loved enrichment for nearly all of our residents, whether for a few hours of fun or a full-blown seven-month love affair (ahem, Kira Lion).
