The effects of intrinsic enrichment on captive felids

Abstract

Environmental enrichment is a well-known technique, which has been used to enhance the welfare of captive animals. The aim of this study is to investigate how three different forms of intrinsic enrichment, namely, a hay ball without scent, a hay ball with catnip, and a hay ball with cinnamon, influenced the behavior of six cheetah and two Sumatran tigers at Fota Wildlife Park, Ireland. Enrichment-directed behaviors, as well as pacing, locomotion, inactive, and exploratory behaviors were investigated. The results indicated that the three forms of enrichment had similar effects, in terms of enrichment-directed behavior, with cinnamon resulting in the highest levels of enrichment-directed behaviors. The cinnamon treatment resulted in a significant decrease in pacing behavior when compared with baseline observations. No evidence of habituation (i.e., a significant reduction in enrichment-directed behaviors) was observed for any of the three enrichments. This means that these low cost, easy to apply, practical forms of enrichment could be frequently applied for these species as part of an enrichment regime.

Can Zoos Ever Be Big Enough for Large Wild Animals? A Review Using an Expert Panel Assessment of the Psychological Priorities of the Amur Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) as a Model Species

“…Nonetheless, it has been demonstrated that indicators of impoverished captive tiger welfare were sensitive to habitat size [40,41], broadly supporting the conclusions of Clubb and Mason [35]. However, tiger welfare also appeared to be sensitive to habitat quality [40,42], as well as enrichment and feeding regimes [32,40,[43][44][45][46][47][48], suggesting that much can be achieved to augment captive tiger welfare by understanding their psychological needs and manipulating their habitats and management accordingly [13,23,28]. In 2018, an assessment of the psychological priorities of Amur tigers was carried out at the Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki, Finland.…”

“…Evidence from multiple sources appear to show that the habitat quality of captive carnivores can be augmented without increasing captive habitat size [33]. Within the constraints of the existing captive habitats, opportunities to investigate feeding devices throughout the day significantly reduced the incidence of pacing amongst captive tigers [47], as did bungee-carcass feeding [48], olfactory enrichment [44] and the provision of live fish and bones [32]. Furthermore, it has been shown that both increased habitat complexity and quality appeared to diminish pacing across a variety of tiger subspecies [40].…”

Effects of scent enrichment on behavioural and physiological indicators of stress in zoo primates

“…Uccheddu and colleagues [43], for example, exposed domestic dogs to a variety of essentials oils, and found that some scents increased frequencies of behavioural indicators of relaxation while others decreased behavioural indicators of stress such as pacing and over-grooming. Similarly, a study on cheetahs and Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) found that stereotypic pacing behaviour was significantly decreased in the presence of a hay ball with cinnamon [44]. This is consistent with the work conducted by Higham and colleagues [45] showing that, among olive baboons (Papio anubis), both short-term (i.e., day-to-day) and long-term variation in rates of self-directed variation does not reflect changes in FGCs.…”

Does visitation dictate animal welfare in captivity? – A case study of tigers and leopards from National Zoological Park, New Delhi

“…The provision of enrichment techniques is a mean to reduce levels of stereotypy and inactivity in captive felines Powell, 1995;Skibiel, Trevino, & Naugher, 2007). Provision of cardboard box and toys, hiding refuges, elevated platforms, and olfactory enrichment are few recommended enrichment techniques to ensure optimal welfare (Bashaw et al, 2003;Damasceno et al, 2017;Jenny & Schmid, 2002;Markowitz & LaForse, 1987;McPhee, 2002;Mellen & Shepherdson, 1997;Mohapatra et al, 2010). Such techniques aid to encourage feeding, exploration, and interaction by eliciting species-specific behaviors.…”