Module 07 - Environmental Enrichment

Examples of Environmental Enrichment

There follows a series of examples of enriched environments for animals.  The form of enrichment provided for a species should take into account the normal environment for that species and how the species interacts with its environment.  It is not necessary, or even generally feasible, to duplicate exactly the natural environment but the substitutes should allow the animal to perform as many of its natural behaviours as possible. 

Further examples of environmental enrichment may be found in the literature.  Comfortable Quarters for Laboratory Animals. Eds. Viktor and Annie Reinhardt may be accessed via the Internet at http://www.awionline.org/www.awionline.org/pubs/cq02/cqindex.html.

The CCAC publication "Guide to the Care and Use of Experimental Animals Vol.1 2^nd edition, has a section on the Social and Behavioural Requirements of Experimental Animals (Chapter VI) and it can be found on the CCAC website.

An extended list of references may be found on the CCAC website at www.ccac.ca