Don animals get bored just sitting around all day?
They certainly can become bored – especially the more intelligent ones. That’s why we have extensive training and enrichment programs. The zookeepers spend a lot of time every day giving the animals things to do that mentally stimulate them and elicit natural behaviors. Examples of enrichment: You may see sheets, boxes or bags in with the primates. They love to play with and explore these items. Carnivores and some raptors may have bones to pick at or chew on. Lots of the animals (elephants, cats, bears, primates and other small mammals) get scent enrichments, too. These may include various perfumes, other animal scents and spices. Training programs are also important, not only to keep the animals stimulated, but also for medical reasons. We can collect blood from elephants and tapirs simply by “asking” them to hold still. Some of our great apes are trained to accept routine inoculations. This is only small examples of the training and enrichment programs we have for the animals.
