Enriching Gifts for the Animals

Rhinos may not know what the holidays are, but that doesn’t stop them from enjoying presents! Allison Kao, the zoo’s behavioral husbandry and enrichment manager, makes a list and checks it twice for every species at the zoo—all year long. This then turns into the zoo’s Wish List, where guests can purchase items that help enrich the lives of animals in the zoo’s care. (Above: Female black rhino Kapuki approaches a scratching brush repurposed from a street sweeper and installed in her habitat at Regenstein African Journey. Shop the Wish List to chip in for another one for male rhino Ricko!) We asked Allison to provide the bigger picture.

What is enrichment?
Enrichment is an addition or modification to an animal’s habitat that enhances the environment, offers choices or challenges, and encourages natural behaviors.

What is the goal?
First, we research the natural history of each species. For example, we look at how they find food, how they eat it, and how they move around their habitat. We explore their social structures and other natural behaviors—such as rhinos wallowing to stay cool and keep bugs away—and use those to create our enrichment goals.

How do you determine which items to add to Wish List?
Items must go through an approval process to make sure they are safe and will be beneficial for our animals. Once they have been approved by our veterinary and animal care teams, keepers decide which items will be best for the species in their care.

How do food items play into training?
We use a teaching technique called positive reinforcement when we teach animals new ways to participate in their own care. Most simply, we offer something they really like as a reward for the right behavior. Most of our animals love food. We can use their daily diet, and sometimes unique or novel items, to help reinforce the right behavior, such as opening their mouth for a wellness check.

How do you keep coming up with new ideas for enrichment?
Zoos across the country and world share ideas with one another. However, most often our keepers are the ones to come up with new and exciting ideas!

If you could have anything in the world for enrichment, what would it be?
This is a very hard question! We have so many species here at the zoo, and every animal has different behavioral needs. PVC has been extremely useful in different sizes, lengths, and thickness—we can make just about anything with it for various species!

What is the best part of your job?
Building a relationship with an animal and gaining a deep understanding of ways we can provide for them with the best possible care is so rewarding! I love seeing our keepers’ passion and helping them reach the training and behavior goals we have set in place for the species here.

Shop our holiday Wish List!

This article was first published in Lincoln Park Zoo magazine’s winter 2018 issue. Read the full issue here.