Talk:Behavioral enrichment

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 23 January 2019 and 10 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Kceira.

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Haberme3.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 15:32, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Adding History, Enrichment Techniques, and Welfare Research
I have multiple sources of information that I am considering to use to add further techniques and definitions, as well as history and the effects that behavioral enrichment has on the over all quality of life seen in animals that live in captivity.


 * "Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums". www.ammpa.org. Retrieved 2016-02-22


 * I decided to reference this article because it is important to realize that marine animals that are captivity require enrichment to keep them happy as well. I also was considering looking more into how enrichment techniques are used as a way to encourage behaviors that could be used to make veterinary care less stressful and more enjoyable for them and this article offers a could base line to do so.


 * '''"Animal Enrichment - National Zoo".nationalzoo.si.edu. Retrieved 2016-02-20'"


 * The information provided from this source will help to elaborate and really define the types of enrichment already stated in the article. In addition to providing other enrichment activities that can be added.


 * "Careers in Animal Training & Enrichment Fields". www.animaledu.com. Retrieved 2016-02-19


 * Gives information on careers in behavioral enrichment and training. Also states reasons as to why it is a crucial part of animal welfare, not only in zoos, testing labs and other forms of captivity, but also the importance of these techniques on farms and at home with family pets.


 * '''"Enrichment". www.aza.org. 2010-12-10. Retrieved 2016-02-20'"


 * This source was relevant for my plans to edit the regulatory requirements section of the article, as well as providing other reliable information to enrichment techniques for animals in captivity.


 * Moberg, G., and Mench, J. A., eds. Biology of Animal Stress : Basic Principles and Implications for Animal Welfare. Wallingford, Oxon, GBR: CABI Publishing, 2000. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 22 February 2016.


 * There is a lot of information that can come from this book; when dealing with nutritional enrichment and human animal interaction techniques through enrichment it gives many examples and well researched information, plus it helps to show the results of different enrichment techniques and the transformation in captive animals stress levels because of them.


 * "Process | Cleveland Metroparks Zoo".www.clevelandmetroparks.com. Retrieved 2016-02-23


 * I liked this source because it states a clear goal of behavioral enrichment and provides an outline of how enrichment plans are drawn up for individual animals base on their individual needs, then submitted for review and approved. Also notes the importance of daily documentation and readjustment of the plan if necessary.

If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. This is my first article that I have really planned on editing more than a sentence or two and I would love to hear someone else's suggestions. -Haberme3 (talk) 04:12, 23 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Hi. Welcome to Wikipedia.  I'm happy to offer help and advice as you edit this page.  There are a couple of ways of doing this.  You can edit directly into the article (known as WP:BOLD).  I watch this article, so I will be automatically alerted to see the changes you have made and offer you feedback.  An alternative is to create content in your sandbox, contact me at my talk page and I can give you feedback before you transfer it to the main article.  Please don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have. DrChrissy (talk) 21:16, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

Purposed Changes to Lead
Behavioral enrichment, also called environmental enrichment, is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing the environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological well-being. The goal of environmental enrichment is to improve or maintain an animal's physical and psychological health by increasing the range or number of species-specific behaviors, increasing positive utilization of the captive environment, preventing or reducing the frequency of abnormal behaviors such, as stereotypes, and increasing the individual's ability to cope with the challenges of captivity. The purpose of behavioral enrichment is to improve the overall welfare of animals in captivity and create an environment similar to what they would experience in the wild.

For each animal in captivity, a goal oriented plan is outlined and created to meet the needs of that animal specifically.[1] Many different factors are included in making an enrichment outline including the needs for the species, desired behaviors, individual history, and the animal's current habitat. This plan is then put into action and changed based on the response and changing needs of the animal. [2]

A variety of enrichment techniques are used to create desired outcomes similar to an animals individual and specie's history. Each of the techniques used are intended to stimulate the animal's senses similarly to how they would be activated in the wild. Provided enrichment may be seen in the form of auditory, olfactory, habitat factors, food, research projects, training, and objects. [3]

Environmental enrichment can be offered to any animal in captivity, including:


 * - Captive animals in zoos and related institutions.
 * - Animals in sanctuaries.
 * - Animals used for research.
 * - Animals used for companionship, e.g. dogs, cats, rabbits, etc.

Environmental enrichment can be beneficial to a wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates such as land mammals, marine mammals, and amphibians. [4] In the United States, specific regulations must be followed for enrichment plans in order to guarantee, regulate, and provide appropriate living environments and stimulation for animals in captivity. [5]


 * For citations, please reference the edit done in my sandbox.


 * The additions and changes in this purposed lead section include brief summaries of my planned edits and additions to the body of the article. I would like to broaden/add sections on enrichment techniques, species of animals that receive enrichment in captivity, and how these plans are outlined. I also plan to include a section on how training can be used as enrichment. -Haberme3 (talk) 02:54, 1 March 2016 (UTC)


 * First off, I would like to say how well written this is, it seemed very professionally and maturely written. I really liked how under types of enrichment how you quickly bullet pointed a went over the main point of each sub topic, it helped keep your article seem very well organized, and also helped make it seem more aesthetically pleasing. The only thing your article still seems to need help with is just bringing the rest of the article up to par. I’m not sure what the article looked like before you edited it, but Assessing the Success of Environmental Enrichment and the Regulatory Requirements could both use some work, specifically the latter section could use information about what happens outside of the united states. What this has helped me realize is I probably should try and be more professional and organized in my writings from here on out, because you did it very well. Jacobhutchinson95 (talk) 01:59, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Your article lead is very well written, and provides the audience with a detailed and thorough definition of behavioral enrichment. That is very important, especially since the title of the article can appear to be ambiguous to some. You presented the main goals of behavioral enrichment without diving into too much detail about any particular aspect of the subject, which is exactly how an article lead is suppose to be! The enrichment techniques that you added are very helpful and appear to be one of the main aspects of behavioral enrichment. That section is very organized and concise. The section that describes making goal oriented plans gives the audience more insight as to how the process is done, but one thing that could add more substance to that section are actual or real life examples. I'm not sure how easy (or not) it is to find reliable sources that would help you in finding these sort of examples. Everything you've added looks great, and although adding more about different aspects of the topic would be ideal, it is not realistic for you to do all by yourself. Jernig13 (talk) 03:58, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Scope of this article - potential move to Environmental enrichment
This article conflates Behavioural Enrichment with Environmental Enrichment. This is clear because there is no actual academic source cited which defines "behavioural enrichment". The term "Behavioural enrichment" suggests it is about changing the behaviour of the animals. Unless the term is more accurately defined and properly sourced, and the content of the article more clearly related to behavioural enrichment, I will be proposing to move this article to Environmental enrichment. DrChrissy (talk) 15:01, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Sending mixed messages
To bring this subject back up, currently the Environmental enrichment article begins with "Not to be confused with Behavioral enrichment..." and the Behavioral enrichment article begins with "Behavioral enrichment (also referred to as environmental enrichment)..." So one of the articles says they're different things and the other says they're the same thing. If the merge suggested by DrChrissy two years ago isn't going to happen, we should still make the openings consistent. Gary D Robson 17:31, 25 June 2018 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gary D Robson (talk • contribs)

A year later, the two articles are still written as described above. I suspect this is a merge that ought to be done, but it would be time-consuming, and anyway, I don't think I'm expert enough on this topic to do it myself. In the meantime, I added a link from this article to environmental enrichment so readers of this article are altered to the existence of the other.Circumspice (talk) 03:38, 12 May 2019 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160409002114/https://www.aza.org/enrichment/ to https://www.aza.org/enrichment/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160516195323/https://www.aza.org/animal-management/ to https://www.aza.org/animal-management/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090426205016/http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/Primates2009/us_law.shtml to http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/pubs/Primates2009/us_law.shtml
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081029111053/http://dels.nas.edu/ilar_n/ilarjournal/46_2/pdfs/v4602kulpa-eddy.pdf to http://dels.nas.edu/ilar_n/ilarjournal/46_2/pdfs/v4602kulpa-eddy.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160516193735/https://www.aza.org/health-husbandry-and-welfare/ to https://www.aza.org/health-husbandry-and-welfare/

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Proposed edits for behavioral enrichment
The basis of the behavioral enrichment article is good but I believe it could use some improvements. Firstly, I propose that this article is renamed to environmental enrichment instead of behavioral enrichment. The article uses the term "behavioral enrichment" only a couple of times, even though it is the title of the article. For the majority of the article, the term "environmental enrichment" is used. In addition, environmental enrichment is the most common term used in the scientific field, for rarely have I come across the term "behavioral enrichment".

I plan on shortening the head section of the article so that it is brief and provides a good summary about what environmental enrichment is. Then an additional new "purpose" section will go further into why environmental enrichment is important.

Instead of the general types of environmental enrichments mentioned, I would like to edit the "types of enrichment" section to contain more specific methods, such as visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, social, cognitive, and human-interaction. I am also planning on differentiating between passive and active enrichment.

In my opinion, the "amount of enrichment" section does not need to be a section on its own. I would incorporate it into the "purpose" section. The sections "making a goal oriented plan", "assessing the success" and "regulatory requirements" would be removed entirely as they seem too focused on external parameters. A few brief sentences regarding regulatory requirements will be included in the "purpose" section, with a hyperlink to the wikipedia page on the United States Animal Welfare Act. In my opinion, this article should focus more on what environmental enrichment is, the types there are, and why is it important, and less on how to make a program and analyze the results. I see this article as a starting base for animal care givers in learning what types of enrichment options there are, and then from there they can do further research.

Lastly, I would like to add a "issues and concerns" section at the end. After researching multiple environmental enrichment studies, there are common issues that underlie many of studies. Therefore I believe this section would helpful in identifying the difficulties that often come with environmental enrichments. Issues and concerns I plan to mention are habituation, food-enforced training, and time and resources.

I believe this article is important and therefore would like to make this the best article possible! These are my suggestions but I would love to hear others as well. Ki husky (talk) 22:07, 5 April 2018 (UTC)

Proposed Changes
I plan to add sections for structural and feeding enrichment because I saw they were included in a table but there was no added information on them. I would also like to add a few examples for certain terms for clarification.Kceira (talk) 15:36, 13 February 2019 (UTC)