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Behavioral enrichment, also called environmental enrichment, is an animal husbandry principle that seeks to enhance the quality of captive animal care by identifying and providing the environmental stimuli necessary for optimal psychological and physiological well-being.〔Shepherdson, D.J. (1998) “Tracing the path of environmental enrichment in zoos” in Shepherdson, D.J., Mellen, J.D. and Hutchins, M. (1998) Second Nature – Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals, 1st Edition, Smithsonian Institution Press, London, UK, pp. 1 – 12.〕 The goal of environmental enrichment is to improve or maintain an animal's physical and psychological health by increasing the range or number of species-specific behaviors, increasing positive utilization of the captive environment, preventing or reducing the frequency of abnormal behaviors such as stereotypies, and increasing the individual's ability to cope with the challenges of captivity. Environmental enrichment can be beneficial to a wide range of vertebrates and invertebrates such as land mammals,〔Young, R.J. (ed.), (2003). ''Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals''. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), Potters Bar, Herts.〕 marine mammals,〔Sheperdson, D.J., Mellen, J.D. and Hutchins, M. (eds)., (1998). ''Second Nature: Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals.'' Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D.C.〕 birds, amphibians,〔Hurme, K., Gonzalez, K., Halvorsen, M., Foster, B., Moore, D. and Chepko-Sade, D., (2003). Environmental enrichment for Dendrobatid frogs. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 6: 285–299 ()〕 reptiles, octopuses and spiders.〔Carduccia, J.P. and Jakobb, E.M., (2000). Rearing environment affects behaviour of jumping spiders. Animal Behaviour, 59: 39–46 ()〕 Environmental enrichment can be offered to any animal in captivity, including: * Captive animals in zoos and related institutions. * Animals in sanctuaries. * Animals used for research * Animals used for companionship, e.g. dogs,〔Hubrecht, R. (1995). Dogs and dog housing. In, Smith, C.P. and V. Taylor (Eds) ''Environmental Enrichment Information Resources for Laboratory Animals''. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), Potters Bar, Herts. pp. 49-62 ()〕 cats, rabbits, etc. ==Types of enrichment== Any stimulus which evokes an animal's interest in a positive way can be considered enriching, including natural and artificial objects, scents, novel foods, and different methods of preparing foods (for example, frozen in ice). Most enrichment stimuli can be divided into six groups: * Environmental; enhancing the animals' captive habitat with opportunities that change or add complexity to the environment. * Feeding; making feeding more challenging. Different methods of food presentation encourage animals to investigate, manipulate and work for their food as they would in non-captive environments. * Manipulation; providing items that can be manipulated by the paws, feet, tail, horns, head, mouth, etc. This promotes investigatory behaviour and exploratory play. * Puzzles; requiring an animal to solve simple problems to access food or other rewards. * Sensory; stimulating animals' senses: visual, olfactory, auditory, tactile, and taste. * Social; providing the opportunity to interact with other animals, either conspecifics or interspecifics. * Training; training animals with positive reinforcement or habituation. Elaborate systems of food presentation have been developed (e.g. presenting dead rats for wildcats in a Swedish zoo) and computer programmed devices which allow the animals in the enclosure to search for prey as they would in their natural environment. It can be argued that a stimulus may be considered enriching even if the animal's reaction to it is negative, such as with unpleasant scents, although stimuli that evoke extreme stress or fear should be avoided, as well as stimuli that can be harmful to the animal. A contrary point of view is that for environmental enrichment to be considered successful, it should promote only positive behaviours. Enclosures in modern zoos are often designed to facilitate environmental enrichment. For example, the Denver Zoo's exhibit Predator Ridge allows different African carnivores to be rotated among several enclosures, providing the animals with a different sized environment and exposing them to each other's scents. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Behavioral enrichment」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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