Environmental enrichment: A GAP analysis

Azevedo, Cristiano Schetini de; Cipreste, Cynthia Fernandes; Young, Robert J.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2006.05.034

Cited by 111 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In recent years there has been exponential growth in the publication of articles about enrichment, which indicates that it is a growing field [de Azevedo et al, 2007]. Nonetheless, for zoos to be able to contribute to conservation means that in the future they will need to be ''extraordinary'' in terms of challenging themselves and their current practices [Hutchins, 2003;WAZA, 2005].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Enrichment involves the addition of stimuli or the provision of choices [de Azevedo et al, 2007], designed to stimulate any one or more of the senses and can originate from animal keepers, zoo visitors, and the surrounding environment. Bloomsmith et al [1991] described the five broad categories of enrichment as social, physical, occupational, sensory, and nutritional.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thirty years later: enrichment practices for captive mammals

2009

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Environmental enrichment of captive mammals has been steadily evolving over the past thirty years. For this process to continue, it is first necessary to define current enrichment practices and then identify the factors that limit enhancing the quality and quantity of enrichment, as well as the evaluation of its effectiveness. With the objective of obtaining this information, an international multi-institutional questionnaire survey was conducted with individuals working with zoo-housed mammals. Results of the survey showed that regardless of how important different types of enrichment were perceived to be, if providing them was particularly time-consuming, they were not made available to captive mammals as frequently as those requiring less staff time and effort. The groups of mammals provided with enrichment most frequently received it on average fewer than four times per day, resulting in less than two hours per day spent by each animal care staff member on tasks related to enrichment. The time required for staff to complete other husbandry tasks was the factor most limiting the implementation and evaluation of enrichment. The majority of survey respondents agreed that they would provide more enrichment and carry out more evaluation of enrichment if it was manageable to do so. The results of this study support the need for greater quantity, variety, frequency, and evaluation of enrichment provided to captive mammals housed in zoos without impinging on available staff time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thirty years later: enrichment practices for captive mammals

2009

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“…) Perceptions of cognitive enrichment. As indicated earlier, the last published meta-analysis on types of enrichment across captive animal settings was performed in (de Azevedo et al, 2007; therefore, a decade later, it is not entirely clear how much cognitive enrichment is currently being performed. When an updated meta-analysis is performed, key differences in terminology (for example "challenge" versus "enrichment") across captive settings should be taken into account to identify all relevant literature.…”

Section: Theoretical and Practical Issues With Cognitive Enrichmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive enrichment and welfare: Current approaches and future directions

Clark¹

2017

AB&C

103

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-"Cognitive enrichment" is a subset of enrichment that has gained interest from researchers over the past decade, particularly those working in zoos. This review explores the forms of cognitive enrichment that have been attempted for laboratory, farmed and zoo animals with a focus on the latter, including various definitions, aims, and approaches. This review reveals the fundamental theoretical and practical problems associated with cognitive enrichment, leading to recommendations for further research in this field. Critically, more research is needed to elucidate what makes challenges appropriate for certain taxa, acknowledging that individual differences exist. Going forward, we should be prepared to incorporate more computer technology into cognitive tasks, and examine novel welfare indicators such as flow, competence, and agency.

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“…Another definition of environmental enrichment was suggested by Rosenzweig and Bennett (1996) in which the term was used to refer to the exposure of laboratory animals to physical and/or social stimulation that is greater than they would receive under standard housing conditions. De Azevedo et al, (2007) thought of the term environmental enrichment as the addition of stimuli or provision of choice that results in the improvement of animal well-being. In a similar manner, the term environmental enrichment was used to describe a wide variety of husbandry activities that provide appropriate environmental stimulation to improve the welfare of captive animal (Swaisgood and Shepherdson, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of enrichment novelty versus complexity in cages of group-housed rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Abou-Ismail

Mendl

2016

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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). Tel. 002 (0)162557996Fax. 002 (0)502379952 Highlights  The study examined whether effects of environmental enrichment are due to novelty or complexity.  Behavioural, performance and pathological indicators of welfare were used.  The effects of enrichment are mainly due to complexity of the cages by multiple items.  The type of environmental enrichment protocol affects welfare of laboratory rats. AbstractAlthough experimental work on environmental enrichment has answered many important questions, it is not yet known whether beneficial effects of enrichment are more strongly influenced by regular provision of novel objects, or by the diversity of objects present at any one time. In a five-replicate study, 80 newly weaned male Wistar rats were housed in groups of four in: a 'novelty' condition (NC) in which five copies of the same object were provided in the home cage during the first week of the study followed by five copies of a different, novel, object over each of the next 4 weeks; a 'complexity' condition (CC) in which one example of each of the five objects used in NC was always present in the cage across the 5-week study period. Behaviour was collected in two 2-hrs sessions every week, once during the light phase of the light/dark cycle and once during the dark phase. Body weight and weight gain were measured over the five weeks and organ weights were recorded postmortem. Rats in the CC displayed elevated levels of measures suggestive of improved welfare such as sleep, enrichment-directed behaviour, enrichment contact, weight gain and relative thymus weight, and decreased levels of indicators denoting poor welfare including aggression, awake-non active and audible vocalizations. It appears that CC may have the potential to increase the frequency and diversity of behaviours, to express different types of behaviour when desired, and to augment the ability of the animals to exert some control over their environment, findings that may improve their welfare. Provision of novelty per se in the absence of diversity of objects at any one time seems to be less beneficial. Order (replicate) effects in the NC group indicated that responses of the animals towards the enrichment regimen appeared to depend on the type of object supplied, thus drawing attention to the importance of object characteristics when designing enrichment protocols for laboratory animals.

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Environmental enrichment: A GAP analysis

Cited by 111 publications

References 10 publications

Thirty years later: enrichment practices for captive mammals

Thirty years later: enrichment practices for captive mammals

Cognitive enrichment and welfare: Current approaches and future directions

The effects of enrichment novelty versus complexity in cages of group-housed rats (Rattus norvegicus)

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