EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment Kristen doing some operant conditioning with the ringtail lemurs Marilyn mentioned operant conditioning in her latest post about Gus the Bear, so I wanted to explain it a bit further. You can click here for a technical definition of operant conditioning, but it can really be summed up with one word: “training”. Training is the final big area of all those important enrichment categories (remember?…exhibit design, olfactory, visual, auditory, tactile, social, novel objects,Read more
Posts filed in: Enrichment & Training
A breath of fresh air
If you have been reading the blog for a while, you may remember back in March of last year when we constructed an outdoor playpen for our indoor animals to exercise in. More recently, you may remember a post about us receiving two new baby opossums. Well, the opossums (named Sonny and Cher) have grown fast and today was their first time getting to use the outdoor playpen! Now that the weather is nice, we like to give our indoorRead more
EnrichBits: Keepers’ favorites
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment This month, we thought it’d be fun to ask around and see what the keepers enjoy best in terms of animal enrichment. “What’s your favorite enrichment to watch or give?” got these responses: Marilyn: I really like when the bears get a box-in-a-box-in-a-box. (This is where we hide a yummy treat in a box, put that box in a bigger box, and that box in a bigger box, in order to create aRead more
EnrichBits: Wolves
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment Our red wolves, who are shy by nature, don’t tend to be real playful in front of large, loud groups. If you catch them one on one, towards the earlier part of the morning, you can see them moving around. Here, Keeper Katy caught them really moving. Their exhibit, designed with a lot of hilly topography and natural elements, challenges them as a wild landscape would, and is long enough side to sideRead more
Buildin’ Stuff
If it looks like it’s going to be a fairly normal week (which rarely happens, mind you), then there’s usually time for some unplanned project time. A “fairly normal” week would include: normal staffing (no one out sick, out on vacation, or otherwise unable to perform as usual), no holidays, no hurricanes/tornadoes/snowstorms/torrential downpours, no huge planned projects or deliveries or special cleans requiring a lot of the keepers, no special events at the Museum (such as Birdapalooza or Wild AboutRead more
EnrichBits: Max’s Monday out– part two
EnrichBits: A monthly look at animal enrichment In the last EnrichBits post, I showed Max, our steer, getting some time outside his stall and yard on a day we were closed to vistors. He got to experience many new and enriching sights, sounds, and smells while he checked out Loblolly Park (our playground). The goal is to provide new and exciting without crossing the line into stressful, so we had quite a few animal department staff out there to helpRead more