13 Jan

The Importance of Environmental Enrichment for Resident Animals

Has your family ever stuffed treats into a toy or hidden kibble into a snuffle mat for your dog to sniff out? Or maybe you encourage your dog to sniff new spots on its walk. Did you know that all of these activities are a form of environmental enrichment? Pets aren’t the only animals who need enrichment – animals in zoos, aquariums, and sanctuaries also need enrichment to keep them happy, healthy, and feeling their best.

Environmental enrichment are activities that keep the brain active and engaged through fun physical play, social interactions, and mental stimulation. An environmental enrichment device, or an EED, is an object that an animal interacts with in a playful and motivating manner. You can think of EEDs as toys for animals!

This blog post will share more about why environmental enrichment is important for animals and how they use EEDs to have fun and stay healthy.

K12 Virtual Field Trip

Exciting Enrichment is a K12 virtual field trip that invites students in grades K-12 to virtually visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA). Students will learn about the importance of environmental enrichment and how CMA uses EEDs with their resident marine animals. Register for this fun virtual field trip happening on January 15, 2025, trip by visiting: Virtual Field Trips – K12 Enrichment.

Toys and Puzzles for Animals in Care

In the wild, animals must work hard. They are using their physical and mental capabilities to do things like hunt for food and hide from predators. Animals living in zoos, sanctuaries, or aquariums depend on caretakers and don’t need to rely on their skills as much as they would in the wild.

Environmental enrichment and EEDs provide animals with mentally and physically stimulating activities that mimic ones they would encounter in the wild. This is important to their well-being because if they are not challenged, they might become stressed or bored.

A young gorilla with its hand pressed against the glass.
Environmental enrichment for a young gorilla.

How Different Animals Use EEDs

Different animals need different types of enrichment to match their unique instincts and needs. Luckily, there are many types of enrichment techniques caretakers can utilize to meet these needs and promote natural behaviors.

Environmental enrichment is important for an animal’s well-being. It helps prevent them from becoming bored and it enhances their quality of life. Keep reading to learn more about how resident animals use of environmental enrichment.

Marine Animals

Dolphins are smart mammals and enjoy challenging food-related enrichment like solving puzzle feeders. Dolphins also like to play with interactive toys like hoops, balls, and even devices constructed from different objects like PVC pipes, bubble blowers and sprinklers.   

Hope is a resident dolphin at CMA. She had an EED device that produced bubbles across her pool after she activated a paddle. She was challenged with learning how to generate more bubbles and after she figured it out, she taught another dolphin how to do the same!

A dolphin swimming backwards with a ball on its nose.
Dolphins play with balls as part of their environmental enrichment.

Sea turtles like to play with floating devices, especially ones filled with food. This stimulates their natural behavior of foraging for nutritious food.

Penguins love ice blocks that have fish or other yummy frozen treats inside. Penguins can peck away at the ice block to reveal and eat its treat. This also mimics a penguin’s instinct to forage for food in icy water.

A penguin swimming in blue water.
Enviornmental enrichment for penguins might happen in the cold water.

Primates

Primates are social animals. Part of their enrichment is housing them together so they can keep doing activities they would do in the wild, like grooming and playing together.

Another type of enrichment for primates is climbing structures like ropes. Ropes and trees allow them to freely climb and swing around their habitat. Balls, tubes, and puzzle feeders are EEDs that primates use because they enjoy using their hands and feet.

A small monkey looking into a mirror.
Mirrors are often part of a primate’s environmental enrichment.

To encourage exploratory behaviors, primates are sometimes introduced to new scents that are strong, like mint, and might also have mirrors or windows to interact with.

Small Mammals

Small mammals like rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, rats, mice, and more also crave activities that mimic their natural instincts. Rabbits like to dig, so one way they receive environmental enrichment is by digging through cardboard boxes that are filled with dirt.

Rats and mice get environmental enrichment through climbing structures like ropes and ladders. This encourages them to climb and explore their habitat.

A mouse looking into the camera.
Rats and mice play in tunnels for enrichment.

Ferrets and guinea pigs like tunnels and enjoy hiding and scurrying inside them. To provide enrichment, their habitats might contain different sized tubes and tunnel structures for them to hide in and play.

Big Cats

Big cats such as tigers, lions, cheetahs, and leopards need environmental enrichment too! They all like to bat around or pounce on top of large balls.

Lions are territorial animals and enjoy having access to objects they can scent mark such as large branches or logs.

A tiger walking in shallow water.
Water is a big part of a tiger’s environment.

Tigers love water. Part of their environmental enrichment might entail a pool or stream in their habitat. This gives them plenty of breaks to play and swim in the water.

Cheetahs and leopards are great climbers and like being in trees. Their enrichment might be high climbing structures like trees or tall platforms. In the wild, leopards rest in trees to stay safe and observe their surroundings. In a zoo, a large climbing structure mimics this natural behavior.

A cheetah standing in a treetop.
Climbing structures provide environmental enrichment for cats of all sizes.

Happy, Healthy Animals

Environmental enrichment is essential for the well-being of wildlife in care. By providing mentally and physically stimulating activities, caretakers can promote the animal’s natural behaviors and enhance their quality of life. Environmental enrichment can be objects, food-related, or additions to their habitat – and caretakers have an important job of providing engaging experiences for their animals.

The outside of an aquarium and next to a palm tree.
Exciting Enrichment at Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Ready to dive deeper into the world of environmental enrichment? Join us for Exciting Enrichment, a K12 Virtual Field Trip taking place January 15, 2025. Exciting Enrichment will virtually take students in grades K-12 to Clearwater Marine Aquarium to learn more about environmental enrichment for their marine resident animals. Visit K12 Virtual Field Trip and sign-up today!