Behavioral Enrichment

Behavioral Enrichment

Behavioral enrichment is the environmental enhancement of the lives of animals by providing them with mental and physical stimulation to increase natural behavior. Here at the Phoenix Zoo elephant sanctuary we apply this enrichment in many different ways. Elephants in the wild will spend up to 20 hours every day looking for their food. To simulate this foraging behavior, the keepers place the elephant's food inside of puzzle feeders like the ones shown. This allows the elephants to spend more of their day foraging for food. The keepers also like to modify the landscape of the exhibit to stimulate the elephants. This includes constructing large piles of logs, planting grass, adding large piles of dirt and sand, churning up the ground to make it softer and adding a clay wallow. The keepers are continually challenged to come up with new ideas to enrich the lives of the elephants.