Animal Enrichment
We know that the animals under our care still feel the need to perform the jobs that all creatures have in order to be healthy and successful. At the Alaska Zoo, we give the animals opportunities to utilize their natural instincts and behaviors while interacting with their environment.
These opportunities are called enrichment!
Wish List & Gift Certificates
Help us to keep the animals engaged! The animals can be rough on their toys so we need specially made items to facilitate long term use by a variety of species at the zoo. We have three online options for purchasing enrichment for the animals at the zoo:
Purchase a gift from Wildlife Toy Box - your gift certificate will allow zoo staff to customize heavy duty toys we know our zoo animals will love!
Boomer Ball - purchase a heavy duty Boomer Ball toy for our zoo animals from items we have selected on our wish list. Boomer Ball makes hard polyethylene toys and balls that are rated for zoo animal strength!
Questions about purchasing enrichment items for animals? Email dcurator@alaskazoo.org.
What is enrichment for zoo animals?
Life in a zoo can get repetitive as our staff provides all of the necessities to keep a physically healthy animal. However, in order to be truly healthy, we need to be mentally and emotionally healthy as well. Enrichment provides choices for the animals under our care which in turn aides in their mental and emotional well-being.
Every animal is different and we utilize the answers to these questions in order to provide them the most species-appropriate environment by way of enrichment. We employ all five forms of accepted enrichment for zoo settings: Food enrichment, cognitive enrichment, physical habitat enrichment, social enrichment and sensory enrichment. Click here to learn more about enrichment and how institutions implement and evaluate it for their animals.
Olga the wolverine enjoying sliding around on a large plastic pillow toy. While not a permanent addition to her physical habitat, it is a large temporary change. If scents were rubbed on the surface, this is a great example of sensory enrichment.
Rather than presenting the animal diets on a silver platter (or bowl) every day in the same fashion, we hide diets of foragers in paper tubes. Instead of recycling a cardboard box, we re-purpose it by wrapping it around a tree in the tiger or lynx habitats to get shredded by a feisty feline. While one might see a clump of camel hair as a mess to be discarded, we see it as perfect nesting material or addition to a predator enrichment item for sensory interest. As an alternative to scattering or hiding treats, we might use them as training rewards. We are always thinking of new ways to challenge and stimulate the zoo’s animals as well as modifying their physical surroundings to make life interest. Variety really is the spice of life for both humans and animals!
Julie the lynx works hard to fish an egg treat out of her water bowl. This is a great example of both food and cognitive enrichment.
**Photographs and video on the Animal Enrichment pages are mostly by the animal care team unless otherwise noted. If you have questions about zoo enrichment or how you can support our enrichment expenses, contact our animal team here.