Environmental enrichment is key to improving the welfare of any type of animal - companion, farm, laboratory or zoo. This volume covers both the scientific principles and the implementation of environmental enrichment. It considers the history of animal keeping, legal issues and ethics, right through to a detailed exploration of whether environmental enrichment actually works, the methods involved, and how to design and manage programmes.
Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Environmental Enrichment: An Historical Perspective. 2. Why Bother with Environmental Enrichment? 3. Does Environmental Enrichment Work? 4. Proactive v. Reactive Use of Environmental Enrichment. 5. Designing an Enrichment Device. 6. The Enrichment Programme. 7. Enrichment for Different Categories of Animals. 8. Food and Foraging Enrichment. 9. Social Environmental Enrichment. 10. Housing. 11. Furniture, Toys and Other Objects. 12. Designing and Analysing Enrichment Studies. 13. Information Sources About Environmental Enrichment. References. Glossary. Index.
Robert Young is currently Professor of Animal Behaviour at PUC-Minas (Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais) in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil where he works on environmental enrichment in zoos and conducts field research on a number of different species. He has given lectures, workshops and mini-courses on the subject of environmental enrichment in the UK, USA, Denmark, Russia and Brazil.
Young's precis of the 'animal rights' viewpoint is one of the best I have read in some time. "This book deserves to be bought and read by a wide audience. It should be required reading for all undergraduate students intending to carry out research projects involving environmental enrichment." Animal Welfare "Scientific and passionate in the promotion of environmental enrichment." Lab Animal News (US) "Professor Young effortlessly leads the reader through the important scientific concepts and recognises the human dimension to what happens in practice. He writes with the passion of someone dedicated to improving animals in captivity." "In short, if you want to learn more about environmental enrichment I do not know of a better place to turn, whatever your background." Veterinary Times, 2004