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enriching

Photo!by!Tony!Bates!

Spring!2015!

!! enriching ZSL’s Forum for Enrichment & Training

!Foraging!In!The!Dark!By Christina Stender

ZSL London Zoo

!On a day-to-day basis, when these magnificent nocturnal prosimians chance upon enrichment, it typically takes the Slender Loris (Loris lydekkerianus) a few encounters to familiarise themselves with a device they have not confronted before. Normally they patiently take their time all the while building up the necessary courage required to approach the new device. However, this was certainly not the case when they were introduced to these spring feeders, the type of which is often used for birds. When stuffed with a bit of woodwool and a few tantalising mealworms, the lorises went straight to it without hesitation. The mealworms are the familiar element in this scenario of course and they would encourage the lorises to approach the springs and provide reassurance that it would be safe to encounter. The idea behind the spring feeder and stuffing it with woodwool would to be for the lorises to spend just that bit longer foraging for the mealworms and it worked! They didn’t just spend half an hour extra or even one hour but they actually spent an amazing three hours approximately with these spring feeders. This certainly exceeded our expectations of the lorises utilising these feeders to their absolute fullest.

I believe most keepers would agree that it is rewarding to witness the animals getting the most out of any new enrichment concepts as well as assisting us in analysing their behaviours even further. The spring feeders are a success as far as the lorises are concerned. Who

knows when a mealworm might just wiggle its way in reach of an expectant loris?

Gone!Fishing!By Sara Parbery

ZSL Whipsnade Zoo This is enrichment has been nicknamed the fishing line. We start off by gutting and chopping whole herring into pieces. This meant there were small hollow pieces of fish, perfect for threading onto a piece of rope. The rope used was then stretched from one side of the pool to the other. The herring was spread evenly across the rope. The rope was then tied at either side of the pool a few feet away from the water surface. Lara is our most inquisitive sea lion and spent a great deal of time jumping out of the water and pulling the fish off the line. It took her a little while to realise that the fish were attached to the rope but once she had realised she even continued jumping out of the water the next day! The public enjoyed watching her and were surprised by her curiosity. The next challenge is to get Dominic and Bailey on board!

We have recently introduced the concept of feeding Jello to our sealions, Jello is 98% water and 2% protein, it can be used as enrichment or as a secondary reinforcer. It can also have veterinary benefits as it can be used to administer vitamins, medications and keep our sea lions hydrated. All 3 sea lions have shown interest in the Jello, although

they were a little unsure to begin with due to its unusual texture!

THIS MONTH’s ISSUE

p.2!When was the last time you took your vulture for a walk?

p.3!Parrot Enrichment: Do’s & Don’ts.

p.4!ZSL’s Training Workshop. Success!

Join us for the Behavioural Management Committee Presentation Evening Wednesday June 3rd

6pm-10pm Held In The Prince Albert Suite

Food & Drink Will Be Provided Contact Luke.Harding@zsl.org If You Wish To Attend.

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American!Black!Vultures!Big!Day!Out!By Grant Kother ZSL London Zoo

At ZSL London Zoo in Animal Activities we house 2.0 American Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus). Gudio 11 who has been at the zoo since his birth in 2005 and Jafar 10 who arrived late 2014. The pair was introduced shortly after Jafar’s arrival on section. Black vultures are a gregarious species and often found scavenging in groups so it would be ideal that they would be housed together. The two vultures are currently housed together and are getting along fine. Jafar came from Puy du Fou in France where he was hand-reared and is especially affectionate with keeping staff, enjoying tactile interaction. Shortly after his arrival a training programme was initiated to get Jafar out flying free in the Animals in Action/Deadly Birds Live demonstrations. He picked up the behaviours almost immediately, possibly due to his seeking out of keeper interaction. Along with tactile rewards, food rewards were also given.

During the winter months some birds are given time off from displays in order to allow them time to moult their feathers. These developing feathers are called pin feathers or blood feathers, which have a blood supply flowing through it, hence the term blood feather. As such, if the blood feather is damaged, a bird can bleed heavily. We have had a few occasions of Jafar plucking/picking at blood feathers, possibly due to irritation, or possibly something psychological. Therefore it was decided to set up a more frequent enrichment/training plan were Jafar receives some sort of interaction several times daily. It was decided that instead of boxing Jafar to take him to the Animal in Action demonstration, he was to be taken for a walk prior to the demonstration and then walked to and from the amphitheater to his aviary. Along with this morning walk and training session he also receives one in the afternoon but this one also includes Guido. Guido who was given the winter off has also started being taken out during these occasions to give him exercise and stimulation. The vultures do not have set routines or behaviours they have to preform during this outing and are free to fly, bound and skip where they like, within reason. They both tend to stick close to keepers and are rewarded randomly with food rewards when behaviours are asked of them and to keep them focused on us. Since beginning this enrichment programme there have not been any episodes of Jafar picking at his wing and we will continue to monitor his progress.

Bats!By Tegan McPhail ZSL London Zoo

As# part# of# the# enrichment# committee’s# donation# of# items# to#our# section# for# the# partaking# of# the# Zoo# Lates,# we# received#some# spiral# whirly<gigs# that# have# proved# fantastic# for# use# as#flower based enrichment for the Rodrigues Fruit Bats (Pteropus rodricensis).#Many#of#the#species#of#flower#that#I#offer#to#them#can#be#provided#and#arranged#on# the# long#stalks,# so# the#bats#can# forage# them# themselves,# for# instance# Lilac# and#Buddleia.#However# we# received# from# the# horticulture# department# a#selection# of# Hibiscus# and#many# Nasturtium# plants,# which# we#planted# and# cultivate# ourselves# on# section.# These# can# only#really#be#picked#as# ‘flower# heads’#and# as# such#are#difficult# to#offer#directly#to#the#bats.#With#the#help#of#the#whirly<gigs#I#can#now# offer# them# a# selection# of# both# flower# types# directly# to#their#level,#which#they#love#to#eat#and#interact#with.##These#can#be# provided# daily,# for# the# more# frequently# hibiscus# and#nasturtium#flowers#are#picked,#they#then#make#more#flowers. Please#see#the#photos#of#bat#frivolity.#

These!Little!Piggies!Love!Enrichment!By Jessica Jones ZSL London Zoo

Our family of Kunekune Pigs can be found in Animal Adventure. The group consists of five sisters, Arona, Reka, Kiri, Lani and Takira. They are all 6 years old and all have different personalities. Like Takria, who is the bossy one and Lani is the sleepy one of the group. Here in Animal Adventure we try and enrich all of our animals as often as possible, the pigs are a fantastic species to enrich. Pigs have an amazing sense of smell and love nothing more than to destroy things utilising their incredible strength or root around in piles of substrate looking for food. Because of their excellent sense of smell they are an ideal species for sensory enrichment. Giving them objects such as hessian sacks sprayed with different perfumes or cardboard boxes filled with hay and live food, so that they have to use their sensitive noses to locate the insects. We use boomer balls with small pieces of vegetables to increase the foraging time. Or even something simple like a ‘new’ log which is covered in insects for them to eat, flip over and basically destroy.

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Birds!Of!The!World!Parrot!Enrichment!By Rebecca Feenan ZSL Whipsnade Zoo

If you haven’t seen our group of parrots fly at Whipsnade yet you have missed a treat. Their beautiful colours flying high over the amphitheatre is jaw dropping on a bright sunny day when their vibrant feathers seem to reflect more than usual. We fly 8 macaws, an Amazon and 2 African Grey parrots in our Free flight Birds of the World Show and although they fly 3 times a day, their down time is filled with enrichment. Enrichment doesn’t need to be a mammoth task if you have a pick n mix of suitable materials always at the ready. We use a mixture of bought and salvaged materials. All of which are nontoxic and if maintained can keep potential injury to a minimum. No toy is 100% safe but our creations are well thought out to minimise the risks. There will always be a difference in opinion, the following list of materials are what works for us, and in 22 years of working with parrots have caused no harm.! Plain cardboard boxes of all sizes are great but they must contain no staples or Sellotape, this includes packing tape. Amazons tape is a glue that reverts to paste again when wet (parrot saliva?). It also has fine strips of plastic fibre to add packing strength that makes these boxes a big no no. The cardboard should also be free from sticky labels and large areas of ink. Shiny ink is also unwise as the potential for toxicity is greater. We visit ZSL’s warehouse regularly to collect unwanted cardboard boxes. All these boxes are flat packed and stored ready for quick use. Never underestimate the intrigue a box, inside a box, inside a box, inside a box can create. These forage boxes are the most anticipated enrichment we ever seem to give.

We use untreated sisal rope in many widths. Fine string sisal is used for only short work, each length must be no longer than 150mm. The thicker 8mm sisal is great for toys, which hang or have wood blocks attached to them and can be cut longer. Splicing (always remove tape used to aid process) is always better than tying knots although frayed rope should always be removed to prevent strangulation and parrots catching toes or nails. We have used cotton rope but prefer sisal. Cotton is easily chewed and ingested by our larger Macaws. Purchased wooden blocks of various shapes and sizes are very enriching with their bright colours, although this is kept to a minimum due to the financial implications of purchasing large amounts. The parrots love these blocks. We use pine wood blocks that are stained with natural colours. Food colours should not be used as they are usually flavoured and you do not want the birds to ingest the wood. We also make our own using 50mm by 50mm untreated pine and cut them down into disks.

You can also purchase, quite cheaply, swings that have the wood blocks attached to them which are always very appealing to our group of experienced chewers. Hawthorne, beech and willow branches are cut into disk shapes and holes drilled through the centre. We have reasonably regular access to all these trees. Bamboo is a controversial plant to use for enrichment as it is claimed to contain cyanogenic glucosides, but when researched, seems to appear in all safe (nontoxic) lists for plants used for Parrots. Parrots may not process the plant in the same way mammals do but we have used it for many years without any issues. I guess it is everything in moderation. Bamboo sticks are great, cut about 200mm long and are fabulous for our large Macaws to strip and chew. Broad leaf bamboo sticks can be cut the same and the leaves are stripped and cut up for packaging in the forage boxes along with ripped up egg trays. Cardboard rolls such as toilet and paper feed rolls (large carpet rolls are great as long as they have no glue on them) are also excellent. We do not use newspaper or shredded paper as I have seen our macaws at times chewing it up in their water bowls and I was concerned the print was leaching into their drinking water. We never use plastics of any sorts. It is well documented that some plastics contained lead. For this reason all plastics/ acrylic are considered unsuitable. Macaws are very capable of chewing up plastic and can consume it. Metal poisoning and choking are therefore a real risk. Some parrot owners use cable ties to attach furnishings and toys in enclosure. Potentially they are unsafe so we do not use them. 100mm strips of sisal string or Stainless steel quick links are used to attach toys and browse to the enclosure. Perching is also enriching. It should be nontoxic and natural; we use mainly Hawthorne with the spikes knocked off as it is a rough hard wood and is difficult to chew through. Willow and Beech are also fine but are too smooth if they are the only available perching. Foot legions in birds can be a common problem but not so if the parrot has variety of rough barked wood perches, which they can chew and alter the shape of. Browse is an essential aspect of enrichment. We have a Beech hedge right outside our kitchen door, which supplies us with enough browse for constant access to our parrots from April to November. Caution is advised when the buds are out as I knew a breeder of parrots once who said he had a cockatoo choke on one, so again we pull them off before feeding. We drape natural beech branches across our perches always being mindful to prevent tail and feather damage and give them free clearance as they move about. Willow is available to us also but we tend not to use it when the sap is visible. If you are lucky enough to have access to it bamboo is also a great browse. During winter we deck the parrot aviaries out with Bamboo for them to chew up. Once they have dried out too much or are no longer enriching they are removed and the leftover bamboo stem are cut up into stick chews as mentioned above and packaged into a foraging box. We always know when our parrots have had fun. The leftover mess the next morning speaks for itself.

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ZSL’s!2nd!Animal!Training!for!Husbandry!&!Veterinary!Care!Workshop!

By Kelly-Anne Kelleher ZSL London Zoo

In February this year, 35 delegates from British & Irish zoological collections attended ZSL’s 2nd Animal Training for Husbandry & Veterinary Care workshop in conjunction with BIAZA and ABWAK, hosted by ZSL’s Animal Training & Behaviour Officer Jim Mackie. The day consisted of a series of talks on the science of animal training including a number of examples of its applications to make routine veterinary procedures or enclosure moves less stressful for the animals and keepers involved. We were very lucky to have Chirag Patel [BSc (Hons), CPDT-KA, DipCABT] founder of Domesticated Manners - Animal Training Consultants, join us as a guest speaker throughout the day. After a morning of inspiring talks by both Jim and Chirag, keepers took part in a workshop activity to plan a training program for themselves in small groups. In the afternoon, delegates were invited on a whistle stop training tour of the zoo and were given live training demonstrations from several of the animal sections. Robert Harland, Angel Lawson and Lisa Ayres from animal activities demonstrated claw trimming and stethoscope training with several parrot species demonstrating to delegates that procedures such as this do not necessarily require manual restraint.!!

WI$H LIST: Are!there!any! items!that!you!think!would!benefit!your!section!or!your! animals,! which! fall! under! the! category! of! behavioural!management?! If! so! please! forward! your! ideas! to! either! Alison!Parbles!or!Jim!Mackie!for!London!and!Steve!White!for!Whipsnade.!!!

Delegates were given a talk from senior aquarium staff Kienan Parbles and Alex Cliffe on how training benefits the staff and animals in the aquarium and were shown training sessions involving the Copperband butterflyfish and the arapaima.

This was followed by a demonstration of reptile training with Caiman lizard and Galapagos tortoises by keeper Luke Harding.

Mammal North keeper Gemma Metcalf then carried out a target training session with the Chapman’s Zebras. To demonstrate the target training that has been carried out this year on the Into Africa department. Positive feedback was received from delegates who described the day as educational, inspiring and a good representation of some of the advances in zoo animal training currently being made at ZSL.

NEWS & UPCOMING EVENTS

• ICEE$–$International$Conference$On$Environmental$Enrichment$in$Beijing,$China$24th:28th$May$2015

• ICZ$5th$Conference$in$Leipzig,$Germany$9th:13th$September$2015

We want to give a big ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who contributed to this edition of ‘enriching ZSL’. If any of the readers have any questions, please feel free to contact the author of the article directly or us via email.

Grant Kother <grant.kother@zsl.org>

Alison Parbles <alison.parbles@zsl.org>