Tickets
Phone: 407.323.4450
Tickets

Enrichment

Content Image

Animal
Enrichment

At the Central Florida Zoo our animals are provided with opportunities to learn, interact, and exhibit natural behaviors. The mission of our enrichment and training program is to continually improve the lives of all the animals in our care.

What is enrichment?

Enrichment is a term used to describe various activities that our Animal Care team utilizes to encourage natural behavior from the animals.

Why provide enrichment?

The animal care team provides enrichment to stimulate the animals’ senses and encourage a wide range of natural behaviors.

How is the enrichment provided?

Items such as puzzle feeders, toys, novelty food are given to the animals on random schedules to ensure interest or reaction to the stimuli.
Environmental Enrichment

Props & Pathways

Cotton-top tamarins are energetic and highly social. They love exploring their habitat when new props and pathways are presented to them.
MANIPULATIVE ENRICHMENT

Palm Fronds

Palm fronds can encourage foraging behavior. Porcupines use their teeth and paws to dig at roots and trees. Hiding their diet in palm fronds is a way for our animal care team to encourage similar foraging behaviors.
MANIPULATIVE ENRICHMENT

Hanging Bone

Hanging enrichment up high can encourage exercise and climbing! Amur leopards have incredible strength and will climb high into a tree to stash their food or rest during the day. Hanging bone is a way for our animal care team to encourage our amur leopard to exercise and show off his climbing skills.
encouraging exploration

Boomer Balls

Black bears have a great sense of hearing and good vision, but their best sense by far is their sense of smell. With their oversized noses, bears have the ability to sniff out the smallest pieces of food. Keepers can add food smears or scents to a Boomer Ball to encourage our black bears to play and explore their habitat.

MANIPULATIVE ENRICHMENT

The Amazing Graze

The unique shape of the “Amazing Graze” exercises our bears’ problem-solving skills. The bears must roll it around in just the right way to get the treats inside to fall out.
Different smells

Sensory Enrichment

Sensory enrichment can be provided in many ways. Spices, perfumes, herbs, and browse can be used to stimulate an animal’s instinct to rub, scratch, and explore.
FOOD AND FEEDINGS

A Big Cat Slow Feeder

Slow Feeders are food bowls for your pet that come with ridges and valleys in various patterns and mazes. The ridges and patterns help break up the feeding surface area of the food bowl. Sometimes the keepers have to get creative when making enrichment. Muffin tins are a durable option for a big cat version of a slow feeder.
Browse Enrichment

Branches for enrichment

Keepers collect non-toxic tree branches for enrichment and diets. The macaws use this oak browse to clean and sharpen their beaks.
ENVIRONMENTAL enrichment

Automated Brush

Our friends at Future Cow donated the rhino’s automatic brush. He uses the brush to scratch those hard to reach places on his back and sides.
ENVIRONMENTAL enrichment

The “Bop Bag”

Not just a toy! Sparring is an important behavior for some animals. The “bop bag,” donated through our enrichment tree, is a great sparring partner for our goats. See what else is on the enrichment tree, located outside Barnyard Buddies or inside the gift shop.

FOOD AND FEEDING

Suet Baskets

Suet baskets for birds can be repurposed as simple puzzle feeders. The red ruffed lemurs must figure out the best way to get their treats out of the small holes.

SENSORY ENRICHMENT

Social Enrichment

Social interactions are important and natural. Solitary animals communicate through sight, sound, and scent. Keepers can make social enrichment safe by giving items that have been with one animal to another.
ENVIRONMENTAL enrichment

Leaf Litter

Animal safe leaf litter is a great way to provide animals with nesting material. It can also be turned into a fun bug finding game!
MANIPULATIVE enrichment

Holl-ee Roller

A silvery cheek hornbill uses its bill to reach into hard to get places for food. Grass and produce stuffed in a Holl-ee Roller can be a healthy challenge!
MANIPULATIVE enrichment

Weeto wobbles but it won’t fall down!

Fossas are very energetic, so it is important to provide them with enrichment that will withstand their play. The Weeto was bought with donations made through our enrichment tree!
MANIPULATIVE enrichment

Plastic Balls

Plastic balls can be a versatile enrichment. Their bright colors are visual, their shape can promote play, and they can be packed to hide food or bugs!
ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT

Ice

Ice can be a great environmental enrichment item for animals that are used to warmer temperatures like our Florida black bears!