Page 139 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

References 111

VetBooks.ir increases the likelihood of the behaviour (using seen in pet dogs (Sanabria et al. 2013; Schütt
et al. 2015).
the enrichment) being performed in the future.
It should be remembered that animal train-
In the case of cognitive enrichment, food is
often used to lure the animal into using the ing whilst it does promote learning, can only be
enrichment; it is then less clear whether the carried out for short periods every day (Young
primary reinforcement is the food or the learn- and Cipreste 2004; Domjan 2005); whereas
ing opportunity (Sambrook and Buchanan‐ informal learning can, in correctly enriched
Smith 1997). The learning which takes place and managed environments, be a constant pro-
with the cognitive task is however, more spon- cess. It should also be remembered that this
taneous than seen with nutritional enrichment type of informal learning is considerably more
(Melfi 2013; Clark 2017). It should be remem- diverse than the learning opportunities created
bered that in good environmental enrichment by operant conditioning. Of course there is a
programmes the animals do not receive all place for both, but it should be clear that their
their food through using enrichment. But functions are quite different. Therefore, in
rather through how much time they choose to terms of the aforementioned animal welfare
use enrichment will determine their food benefits, informal learning opportunities are
income from this source. likely to be much more important.
Keeping animals’ brains active through In conclusion, environmental enrichment
informal learning opportunities created by items should be provided for captive zoo
environmental enrichment has been shown animals since they can enhance learning
to increase their learning capacity and ability opportunities, can increase the expression of
to deal with changes in their environment natural behaviours, can decrease the expres-
(Young 2003; Salvanes et al. 2014; Grimberg‐ sion of abnormal behaviours, and can increase
Henrici et al. 2016). In humans, studies have the level of welfare. Animals using environ-
shown that people who are more mentally mental enrichment have better performance
active usually suffer much less from age‐ in cognitive tasks, facilitating their adaptation
related diseases and illnesses such as demen- to new environments. Thus, for animals kept
tia (Nithianantharajah and Hannan 2006; in barren environments, enrichment can be
Woo and Leon 2013). Due to advances in vet- the only cognitive distraction and the main
erinary care and nutrition provision, animals source of learning opportunities.
in captivity are starting to live much longer
than their wild counterparts; for example,
chimpanzees in the wild normally live to 40+ Acknowledgements
years old, whereas as in captivity they can
reach 60+ years old. Thus, if captive chim- RJY was financially supported by FAPEMIG
panzees are not mentally stimulated then we and CNPq; he is currently supported by SwB
can expect to start seeing diseases like (CAPES). CSA is financially supported by
dementia; these diseases are already being FAPEMIG/CEMIG and CAPES.

References

Apfelbach, R., Blanchard, C.D., Blanchard, R.J. Azevedo, C.S. and Faggioli, A.B. (2004). Effects
et al. (2005). The effects of predator odors in of the introduction of mirrors and flamingo
mammalian prey species: a review of field statues on the reproductive behaviour of a
and laboratory studies. Neuroscience and Chilean flamingo flock. International Zoo
Biobehavioral Reviews 29: 1123–1144. News 51: 478–483.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev. Azevedo, C.S., Cipreste, C.F., and Young, R.J.
2005.05.005. (2007). Environmental enrichment: a gap