Tuesday, 9th October 2018 - Environmental Enrichment Flashcards
Environmental Enrichment
Enhancing animals’ physical, ‘mental’ and social environments.
Environmental enrichment concept (Newberry, 1995):
“The endpoint of enrichment should be to improve the *biological functioning* of the animals”
*Biological functioning (should be looking at animal welfare)
Why do we care about providing “enriched” environments?
Yes,
Medical conclusions are being made from rats and mice who are kept in less than ideal environments. Conclusions would be more accurate if the animals were able act as normally as possible in ideal environment.
Daily meals and snacks formulated by nutritionist
Own Room
Clothing and bedding laundered regularly
Encouraged to walk daily by staff (hallways and outdoors when warm)
Mental health probably not good
All of her basic needs are being met but she may not have much to do, no good social interactions and little environmental enrichment.
What are the 3 spheres of David Fraser?
Biological functioning and health
There is more than just health when we consider if an individual has a good life
Affective states
How does the individual experience it’s life?
Natural Living
Is the individual able to use it natural adaptations?
*A balance between all three concerns are needed to give animals a life worth living*
Back to Grandma and appling David Frasers, how many of the spheres apply to her life?
Biological health and functioning: YES
Affective states: NO
(happiness? lonliness? fear?..)
Natural Living: NO
(Social interaction? Cognitive tasks?…)
Rabbits as indoor pets are common in Canada.
This would be considdered a suitable environment for them.
Why is a permanent indoor environment unsuitable?
PUT THEM OUTDOORS!
- It is more natural to them
Why is enrichment needed?
To improve welfare of animals that are reared in inadequate environments by?
Increasing the expression of natural behavious such as:
-Social behaviours
(conspecifics or other species to interact with)
-Exploration
(cat in tumble dryer)
-Foraging
(Cows outside NZ, AU & IRE live within ‘sheds’)
-Reducing the incidence or severity of undesirable, abnormal and stereotypic behaviours
What are abnormal behaviours?
Behaviours that differ in pattern and frequency or context from that which is shown by most members of the species in conditions which allow a full range of behaviours - (Fraser and Broom, 1990)
They do this because they are bored and have nothing to root at or chew so they just play with what they do have which is lots of pigs and pigs only.
What are stereotypic behaviours?
A repeated, relatively invariant sequence of movements which has no obvious purpose - (Fraser and Boom, 1990)
6 Types of enrichment:
Physical?
Nutritional?
Social?
Social (human) ?
Occupational
Sensory
Physical
Altering the size of the complex of the animals enclosure
Nutritional
Presenting varied or novel food types
Changing the method of food delivery
-Zoo animals, and even companion animals
Social
Direct or indirect contact with conspecifics
Indirect - Visual, olfactory, or auditory
Direct - Contact with other animals
Social (human)
Direct or indirect contacts with humans
Training (predictability and control)
Positive, predictable interactions
(Reduce anxiety in rats by tickling them - Cloutier et al. 2012)
Occupational
Psychological enrichment
Devices that provide animals with control or challenges and encourage exercise
Sensory
Stimuli that are visual , auditory, olfactory, tactile, or taste testing.
(North america - cows line up for these brushes to have a good scratch)
Pigs = Rooting at compressed straw and cardboard to redirect unnatural tail biting behaviour
How do we promote natural behaviours?
Is the below image promoting natural behaviours?
No, they are missing something to climb on
