When it comes to behaviors like these—ones the animal
wouldn’t normally do in nature—zookeepers have two goals.
First, they want to eliminate the unnatural and sometimes
harmful habits. Second, they want to give the animals
opportunities to do the things they’re meant to do: hunt,
forage, chase, climb, and more.What’s that Smell?
So how do zookeepers banish boredom? hey can’t keep
planting huge baobab trees in the elephant’s quarters so
it can rip them apart. Zoos don’t have enough space to let
beavers dam up rivers. And putting a live gazelle in with the
cheetah would give little kids nightmares for weeks.
Instead, they can enrich an animal’s environment in
novel ways. Don’t just hand the lion a slab of meat—put
it in a barrel and make the cat work for it. Give cranes a
pile of dirt and let them dig for insects. Some scorpions
love checking out roses. Even a seemingly silly thing likeStuck in a Rut
hink about when you have nothing to do and no way to
keep yourself busy. Sometimes you get so bored, you want
to scream.
Boredom is a problem for animals too, especially ones
kept in conined spaces. When you visit the zoo, does the
grizzly bear lie listlessly in its enclosure, staring out at the
people? Does the wolf pace the perimeter of the fence,
back and forth, again and again? hese could be signs of
boredom—just like when you stare at your bedroom ceiling
or drum a tabletop with your ingers. Some animals may
even hurt themselves by pulling out feathers or chewing
their tails.
(^1) Use all the senses
Sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch:
make sure the animals are stimulated
in all these ways. Scatter spices around
the enclosure for them to sniff. Play
nature recordings for them to listen to.
Blow bubbles for them to chase. Give
them scratching posts to rub against.
(^2) Have a great place to live
Animals’ enclosure must meet their
natural needs, whether they like
climbing, hiding, perching, swimming,
or burrowing. Give them animal-
appropriate amenities like climbing
structures, swings, caves, and nets. Also
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prefer mud or wood chips? And make
sure the temperature and humidity
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BOREDOM
BUSTERS
To keep zoo animals’
lives interesting and
to encourage natural
behaviors, zoos
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types of enrichment
activities.
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