Elephants Elephants - Wildpro - Twycross Zoo

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impoverished environments and require an environment which allows
them to mud/dust bathe, climb up slopes and swim.
• Animals that roam over large home ranges. Elephants range over
large distances (8 – 22km/day) in order to exploit resources. Captive
elephants are less active and this may cause foot problems and
contribute to some animals being overweight.
• Animals need the opportunity to express behavioural needs. That is
behaviour which is categorised as being, (and see Section 3.2):
� Of high survival / reproductive value.
� Internally stimulated.
� Something from which an animal will work to perform, such as
to obtain food i.e. work for a reward (see below ‘work’).
� Parts of the repertoire that have evolved over a long duration in
the wild.
When considering the design of environmental enrichment project a number
of points are worth considering that relate to elephant behaviour:
• Longevity. For enrichment devices/regimes to be worthwhile they
should represent a long-term solution that makes a difference over the
life span of the animal. With that in mind, the systems put in place
should be robust i.e. built to last and the animal should not readily
acclimatise/habituate to it.
• Control/choice. Animals may benefit greatly if they have some form of
control over their environment. Research on farm animals has shown
that animals given control over various aspects of their life (when to
feed, where to go etc.) fare far better than animals that have no control
or choice (Dawkins 1980).
• Work. Animal motivation can be measured in how much an animal is
prepared to ‘pay’ to achieve the goal, i.e. how hard it is prepared to
work. The greater the behavioural need, the harder the animal is
prepared to work. For example an animal may be prepared to push
open a door for a food reward but not if the reward is the company of
another animal (Webster 1994).
• Predictability/unpredictability. Positive stimuli occurring in an
unpredictable fashion both temporarily and spatially are of greater
benefit than when it is predictable (see additional points under
interaction below). Conversely, aversive stimuli are of less concern
when they are predictable.
• Reinforcement. Enrichment devices will only work long term if the
attraction of the device lasts beyond the initial period of novelty. For
this to be the case, reinforcement is critical. For example an animal will
play with a ball for the first five minutes or so and soon ignore it.
However, a feed ball that delivers a feed reward as the animal plays
with it will hold the animal’s attention far longer.
• Interaction of the above factors. Some of the factors listed above
interact in terms of their benefit to animal welfare: