Environment Enrichment: Behavioral Response of Rhesus to Puzzle Feeders

• Main Authors: Bloom, Kenneth R, Cook, Marty
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Subjects: ADULTS; AGRICULTURE; Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine; ANIMALS; BEHAVIOR; DAILY OCCURRENCE; DIET; ENRICHMENT; ENVIRONMENTS; FEEDING; FOOD; HABITATS; LABORATORIES; PE61102A; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; PRIMATES; PUZZLE FEEDERS; RESPONSE(BIOLOGY); RHESUS MONKEYS

Amendments to Department of Agriculture standards regulating the physical environment of laboratory primates have served as an impetus for research involving environmental enrichment. Tools and techniques are being developed to address the most controversial aspect of the amended standards, i. e., the requirement that the physical environment be adequate to promote the psychological well-being of laboratory primates. The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of one technique which provides a monkey with the opportunity to perform a preferred, meaningful task. The cages of two adult rhesus monkeys were equipped with a changeable maze through which the animals received their normal daily diet of monkey chow. They needed to use their fingers to manipulate the food within the maze until the biscuits were moved to the final level where they could be retrieved. Evaluation of the responses of the two rhesus monkeys revealed that the variable maze patterns consistently present the animals with a stimulus for activity. The feeder provides both environmental complexity and the opportunity to engage in behaviors which simulate, to some extent, foraging activities seen in feeding behavior in natural habitats. (kt)