Maned Wolf Enrichment?

R

ricka_ruth

New Member
Hey everyone. I'm a volunteer at a zoo & I am assigned a project to come up with some enrichment ideas for the Maned Wolves to get approved by our keepers. I was, of course, given several guidelines. ;)
I've beens searching the web for ideas & haven't come across anything at all.
I do have a couple of ideas but I'd love to hear what anyone has to suggest. Thanks! :D
 
This may all sound obvious but carnivores love olfactory enrichments or anything that they can destroy. Favourites include cardboard boxes (just make sure there's no tape, glue or staples in them), Christmas/pine trees, phone books, pumpkins, butternut squash, cantaloupe, etc. Or if you are feeling creative you can make (non-human) animal shapes out of cardboard or paper mache. For olfactory I recommend essential oils, blood trails, spices and herbs. You can also have great success with piles of substrates such as leaves or wood chippings (again they love the smell and to roll).
Great websites I can recommend for enrichment ideas are:
Shape of enrichment Shape
The environmental enrichment scrapbook Species Specific Information: Wolves
and Honolulu zoo http://www.honoluluzoo.org/enrichment_activities.htm#List

Good luck and let us know how you get on, pictures would be good too :)
 
Frozen bloodcicles, large pipes, boxes, scents like Naimsindi said, maybe put meat/treats and tie them off from a tree!
 
Perhaps a good idea would be to hang a slab of meat from a post at head height. So although they can reach the food it sways and they'll have to work to try and keep it still while eating:) this could be made more complicated through covering the meat.

Perhaps a different type of meat could be offered, a simple and easily done enrichment particualrly if its an unusual flavour, like smoking the meat (dont know the health implications of this)

You could bury the meat just below the surface to allow them to sniff it out and could put down different scents (spices, herbs and perfume) to distract them.

Hope you find something you could do:D
 
Scent trails leading to different food items hidden in the exhibit could always work. It would make them move around and explore while searching for there food and keeping therem mind stimulated.

Another idea is drilling holes in a boomer balls and putting food in it so they have to work to get it out
 
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