Unofficial enrichment poll #1 results
Here’s the basic data from the first enrichment poll (artificial but visible enrichment vs naturalistic but less obvious enrichment).
In nine hours, we got 244 distinct responses. 11 were discarded due to confusion/lack of application to the question.
Of the 233 relevant responses, the number of people who prefered one type of enrichment over the other was almost equal: 88 went artificial, 89 went naturalistic. 53 people expressed a preference for both types of enrichment and 3 people had no preference. (For answers where a personal preference and a general perspective on enrichment design were expressed, only personal preference was counted).
Of the responses, answers fell into a number of distinct categories that were user-suggested (not part of the poll question). The main five were: desire for enrichment to be visible and identifiable, signage about the enrichment needing to exist, the interplay of education and enrichment, enrichment and the behaviors it encourages being as natural as possible, and the interplay of animals being raised for release and enrichment types. Frequently, more than one topic was mentioned in a response.
The most mentioned category was that enrichment needs signage. There were 40 distinct mentions of the need for signage of some sort, with people who preferred natural behavior mentioning it slightly more often (18) than the people who preferred both (16).
The role enrichment plays in education of the visiting public was the next important category, with 38 respondents highlighting it. It was mentioned most frequently as an important consideration by people who preferred artificial enrichment (29) with an overwhelming focus on the fact that visible and obvious enrichment items creates openings for dialogue with visitors.
Third, 36 respondents wanted to be able to see that enrichment was present in the exhibit. Desire for this also correlated strongly with people who preferred artificial enrichment (29) or both types (4). Reasons varied, from distrust of the zoo to provide enrichment if it wasn’t visible to guest enjoyment of being able to identify enrichment items.
Fourth was the concern that enrichment should encourage as natural behaviors as possible from the animals, mentioned by 18 respondents. This was almost entirely a concern of people who preferred naturalistic enrichment over artificial or a mix (16) with two people chiming in who also preferred both.
Last, seven people were worried that animals who were raised with the goal of being released back into the wild might be affected later in life due to the types of enrichment they were exposed to. Concern about this was slightly stronger from people who preferred artificial enrichment in general (4) but equal between people who preferred naturalistic enrichment (2) or a mix (1).
This poll was based off the hypothetical that all types of enrichment are equal in cost, availability, value to the animals, and other applicable variables - it specifically was designed to look at feelings regarding animals engaging with artificial objects over natural ones. The next post on the topic will discuss some of the nuances of different types of enrichment and enrichment program design and ask for follower feedback when those variables are not all equal.