Evaluation of the Impact of Behavioral Opportunities on Four Zoo-Housed Aardvarks (Orycteropus afer)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Evaluations of enrichment are critical to determine whether or not the goals of an enrichment program are being achieved. However, evaluations can be challenging if a species’ active period occurs outside of their caretakers’ normal schedule. Aardvarks are an understudied, nocturnal species, and our aim was to assess how they used their enrichment (nightly and throughout the study), if enrichment achieved the stated behavioral goals, and the subsequent effects of goal-achieving enrichment on the aardvarks’ welfare. Four aardvarks were given seven different enrichment items based on two behavioral goals, foraging and exploring, and were observed three times during the night. The aardvarks’ enrichment use was impacted based on the goal of the enrichment, with aardvarks using the enrichment aimed at promoting foraging behavior more when enrichment was first given compared to enrichment that promoted exploring. However, exploring enrichment was used more later in the night. The enrichment did appear to achieve the stated behavioral goals, and the aardvarks continued using the enrichment throughout the entire eight-week study. In addition, there were increased affiliative and decreased agonistic interactions with more enrichment use, linking the achievement of these goals to positive indicators of welfare. The data presented contribute to the current knowledge on goal-based enrichment and its impact on animal welfare. ABSTRACT: Evaluations of enrichment are critical to determine if an enrichment program is meeting stated goals. However, nocturnal species can present a challenge if their active periods do not align with caretakers’ schedules. To evaluate enrichment for four aardvarks housed with a natural light cycle, we provided seven different enrichment items aimed at fulfilling two behavioral goals: exploring and foraging. We wanted to understand how the aardvarks used enrichment, if enrichment promoted the defined goals, and how enrichment that achieves its goals affects welfare indicators, including rates of pacing and social behaviors, behavioral diversity, and fecal glucocorticoid metabolites. Twenty-minute observations from video were performed three times a night for a total of 224 observed hours. We found significant differences in how the aardvarks used items from the two enrichment goals throughout the night, with foraging enrichment used more than exploring at first and exploring enrichment used more later. We found that items promoted their defined goals, and aardvarks showed no evidence of habituation throughout the eight-week study. The impact on selected welfare indicators provided evidence of potentially positive changes, including increased affiliative and decreased agonistic interactions accompanying increases in goal behaviors. These results contribute to the current knowledge available on the impact of goal-directed behavioral opportunities on zoo animal welfare.