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January 2011
Johannesburg Zoo recently placed some novel
items into Phila, the Black Rhino's, enclosure to mark
her first three months in the zoo.The items were: an
apple- & mango-flavoured ice lolly, a boomer ball
stuffed with boskos, logs rolled in elephant urine,
white vinegar- and peppermint-scented balls and a mud
wallow. The toys are meant to extend her foraging
period, give her additional 'chores' and keep her
entertained.
These play objects form part of the Johannesburg
Zoo's Environment Enrichment programme. Johannesburg Zoo
uses both naturalistic and behaviour engineering
approaches to environmental enrichment. The naturalistic
approach recreates aspects of a wild environment in
captivity to provide stimulation for captive animals,
whereas behaviour engineering involves providing
artificial devices that animals operate to receive some
form of reward, usually food. Both approaches are meant
to increase behaviour choices for the animals and
encourage species-appropriate behaviour and abilities so
that the zoo's captive animals remain in good physical
and psychological health.
Providing naturalistic environments for animals is
important to the Zoo because it enables it to teach zoo
visitors about conservation. For instance, when animals
are housed in an enclosure that resembles their natural
habitat, a zoo visitor will be able to link the animal
with its natural environment and understand that it is
necessary to preserve their habitat in the wild.
Behaviour enrichment is also important and is used to
encourage natural behaviour like searching for food or
stimulating play and work. The Zoo strives to create
enclosures resembling as far as possible the natural
environments of animals.
Phila did not take well to her new toys: she spent
most of the time hiding under her favourite tree and
tested the toys only when she came out of her
night-room, first kicking the stuffed boomer ball,
sniffing the scented balls and putting her nose near the
fruit-flavoured ice lolly. She did not even try the mud
bath. Time will tell whether she will use any of them.
However, most items are short term and were removed
after a few days except for the mud bath. The zoo plans
to introduce more toys on a trial and error basis.
The ideal time to see Phila is when it is not too
hot, in the morning or afternoon, especially during her
feeding time.
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