ENVIRONMENTAL AND BEHAVIORAL ENRICHMENT IN CAPTIVE ANIMALS

摘要

A fundamental factor underlying the behavior of man and animals has been their desire and need for food. Like human beings, animals also have a variety of needs, which must be fulfilled for their welfare. When animals are confined in enclosures with little or no opportunity to express a normal range of behavior, they tend to develop abnormal behavior, which is indicative of distress and boredom. Examples of abnormal behavior are apathy or pacing up and down, head bobbing, foot rocking, lip smacking and circling. Some bored animals exhibit aggressive behavior and try to inflict injury on themselves and on cage mates. Others show such deviant behavior as eating their faeces or earth. Primates, elephants, bears and carnivores show more abnormal behavior in captivity than do antelopes and deer. The lives of these animals could be improved by adding complexity to the enclosures, thus providing opportunities for a range of normal activity. Improving the enclosures in this way has been termed as environmental enrichment or behavioral engineering and has now become standard practice in good zoos.