RES E ARC H
All creatures great and small With zoo enrichment efforts focusing too heavily on large popular animals, it’s time our approach was widened to benefit all species, says Dr Paul Rose
Z
oos have made great advances in ‘environmental enrichment’ – making changes to encourage natural behaviour and improve animal wellbeing.
But researchers from the University of Exeter
and the University of Winchester in the UK say efforts disproportionally focus on large, ‘popular’ animals – with less focus on creatures such as invertebrates, fish and reptiles.
PHOTO: DR PAUL ROSE
The study, based on interviews with zoo professionals, revealed support for enrichment, but a lack of evaluation and evidence to measure the effectiveness of changes. Here the University of Exeter’s Dr Paul Dr Paul Rose is a zoologist and a lecturer at the University of Exeter in the UK
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Rose explains why it’s important that zoo improvements benefit all creatures.
