Dolphins are not the only animals at the Aquarium that benefit from enrichment activities. Animal enrichment is an important part of animal care.
Other animals are given special toys and objects to keep their environment stimulating and exciting.
The Aquarium’s stingrays, giant Pacific octopus, iguanas, and fish - to name a few - are also challenged and stimulated with “play” activities.
“Without the opportunity to perform its natural repertoire of behaviors,” explains Sue Hunter, the Aquarium’s manager of animal programs, “ an animal may manifest unnatural or abnormal behaviors.”
Foraging
Stingrays in the Wings in the Water exhibit are bottom feeders. Aquarium divers distribute clams throughout the exhibit to encourage the rays’ natural behavior of foraging for food.
Using more than 1,800 suction cups, the giant Pacific octopus also “hunts” for food by unscrewing a tightly sealed plastic jar. Once open, a tasty clam is the octopus's reward.
Jack Cover, general curator of fishes and rainforest exhibits, explains what can happen if animals are not encouraged to forage for their own food. “Active animals will fill up and become inactive," he said. "It's like seeing people after eating a big Thanksgiving dinner and watching everyone sleep.”
By allowing animals to scavenge for their own food, they stay active and do not develop a sedentary lifestyle.
Hide and Seek
It is not only about hunting for food; animals at the Aquarium are stimulated in a variety of ways.
Plastic tubes become hiding places for bugs that pygmy marmosets eat; car wash strips and PCV pipes are transformed into an artificial kelp forest for the dolphins. Plants are added to PVC elbow joints to form hiding places for fish, and logs are placed in the exhibit to keep the cold-blooded iguanas warm.
All Hands on Deck
Twice a year, Aquarium staff and volunteers come together for building days to repair and construct new enrichment items.
The new items are checked for safety and variety. Precautions are taken to ensure that animals cannot swallow, chew, or entangle themselves in the items.
New items are incorporated into the enrichment program by animal care staff. The variety spawns creativity among animals and staff alike.
The activities are often fun to watch. Sue Hunter notes, "When visitors see animals engaging in natural behaviors, it encourages them to ask and learn."
