Resource Center: Enrichment

Accreditation

Please refer to the Accreditation Standards and Related Policies (in PDF) for AZA accreditation requirements and recommendations for enrichment programs.

Listservs

Many of the AZA listserv groups focus on husbandry / enrichment topics. Check out the list of listservs.

Cephalopod Enrichment Committee

The Cephalopod Enrichment Committee is part of AZA's Aquatic Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group (AITAG). Read about the committee's goals, scope, and contact information (in PDF).

Primates

Environmental Enrichment Information Resources for Nonhuman Primates, 1987 to 1992
An extensive guide to U.S. laws, regulations, and policies; related organizations and Web sites, suppliers, listservs, and journals and newsletters. Published by the U.S. Animal Welfare Information Center.

Environmental Enrichment for Nonhuman Primates Resource Guide
An updated version of the preceding document, this guide covers literature from January 1992 through March 1999. This expanded version contains the full text of relevant sections of the Animal Welfare Act, related organizations, websites and listservs, and a listing of all U.S. primate centers.

Environment Enhancement to Promote Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates
A report from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) covering the Animal Welfare Act, the language of U.S. regulatory standards, other nations' requirements regarding primates' psychological needs, a literature review, and species information fact sheets.

The Psychological Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates
In 1998 the National Research Council convened the Committee on Well-Being of Nonhuman Primates to recommend practical approaches to developing environmental enhancement plans. The full-text is available online.

Nonhuman Primate Management Plan
This document from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) details the recommendations of a diverse group of researchers, care providers and administrators in an effort to meet the 1985 congressional mandate for improved "psychological well-being" of nonhuman primates.

Environmental Enrichment for Primates
A searchable database with more than 1,500 citations from the Animal Welfare Institute. The Institute also maintains an annotated bibliography on Environmental Enrichment for Nonhuman Primates, with an emphasis on practical approaches to enrichment.

Laboratory Primate Newsletter
Full-text articles on environmental enrichment and psychological well-being from Brown University's Department of Psychology.

Publications

The June 2002 issue of Communiqué focused on enrichment.

AAZK Enrichment Notebook
Includes an overview of enrichment, a resources and suppliers list, links to enrichment information, sample enrichment forms in use at various institutions, guidelines for enriching various taxa (reptiles, birds, primates, carnivores, ungulates and bats), risk assessment and safety issues, a browse plant list, a toxic plant list, cookbook recipes, an enrichment idea catalog that includes all entries from the original AAZK Enrichment Notebook plus new submissions, and institutional contacts.

The Shape of Enrichment
A quarterly publication with feature articles, regular columns, short notes, conference announcements, letters, and other notices. The non-technical format offers an easy-to-read publication geared towards zoo keepers, animal care technicians, and others directly involved in animal care.

Tips and Techniques

Animal Enrichment Program at Disney's Animal Kingdom
Full-text course materials for a course on planning, implementing, and evaluation an enrichment program.

Environmental Enrichment Scapbook
A listing of techniques, toys, methods and ideas used for environmental enrichment of captive non-domestic animals.

Enrichment Online
Offering hundreds of tested enrichment methods at your fingertips and the opportunity to share your own ideas with animal care managers around the world.