アフリカゾウのエンリッチメントの実際
Feeding-Enrichment for African Elephants
鈴木哲哉 名古屋市緑政土木局 東山総合公園
Tetsuya SUZUKI Higashiyama Zoo & Botanical Garden,
Greeniﬁcation & Public Works Bureau,Nagoya City Oﬃce

My name is Tetsuo Suzuki from theHigashiyama Zoo & Botanical Garden.
Sleeping room
for Kenny

So, I would like to go ahead andshow everybody what we, as a team,
actually do in the zoo.

Sleeping room for Chi

These are the elephants that are
currently being kept at the zoo.

Area for mudbathing
Concrete pillars

Room B

Room A
Passagepool

Passage for visitors

Feeding-Enrichment for
African Elephants, Also
Japanese Cranes䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊䇽

Tetsuya Suzuki,
Higashiyama Zoo & Botanical
GardenAfrican Elephant Team䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪈䇽
Elephants being
kept at the zoo䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪋䇽[slide 4]

C h i , m a l e , 3 4 y e a r s o l d Kenny, female, 36 years old
Came to the zoo in 1973 when she(deceased June 9th, 2009)
was presumed to be 2 years old䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㪉䇽

Unfortunately, Chi, the male elephant passed away thisEnvironmental Enrichment
Enriching the lives of the animals in zoos based on the
lives of the animal in the wild
Extension of time for foraging in order to enrich thelives of African elephants
Why?
African elephants spend 18 hours a day (75% of theday) foraging for food.
It is impossible to make the environment in zoos thesame as the environment in the wild.
It is possible to make the condition as close as possible
to the wild.

June. However, he will also come out in the video clips.
We also have Kenny, a female elephant that is 36 years
old.

[slide 2]

Environmental enrichment, as everybody has been
saying, is to enrich the lives of animals in zoos. How

This is the facility where we keep the elephants.

can we enrich the lives of African elephants in zoos?

To the right is the area for exercising. We also haveFirst, we thought of extending the time for foraging.

sleeping rooms; we were using two rooms per elephant.

I think that some people are thinking, “why does

Currently, all four rooms are for females, and Kennyextending the time for foraging enrich their lives?” The

uses them. [slide 3]

reason behind this is that African elephants in the wild

Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

33

spend approximately 18 hours per day eating food.
Thus, eating is very important for African elephants.
It is impossible to make the environment the same asthat in the wild. There is no way we can bring in asavannah, but by using enrichment, the same condition
can be created to an extent. [slide 4]
Method to Extend Time for Foraging 2
Carry out diﬀerent types of environmental enrichments
・Have 30 types of enrichments in both the rooms and theoutdoor area
・Change the menu everyday in order to prevent the
animals from losing interest䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎䇽

Method to Extend Time for Foraging 1
Increasing the number of times the animals are
fed
Dividing meals to be fed 7-8 times a day.
䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌䇽

Introduction of Environmental Enrichment
African Elephants䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪏䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍䇽So, in order to extend the time, we simply increased
the number of times the elephants are fed. Until then,
we only fed the them approximately three times a day,but currently we divide their meal so that they are fed
seven, eight, or rather close to ten times a day. The

䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐䇽elephants would have a maximum of an hour and a half
between meals when food is added. [slide 5] [slide 6]
This is the second method we take. We carry out avariety of enrichments. In both the rooms and thearea for exercising, we currently have approximately
30 types of enrichments, and we carry out a variety ofthese combinations. Elephants are intelligent animals,
so in order to prevent them from learning what we doand thus losing interest, we try to change the menu
slightly every day. It also takes a lot of work to do
everything, so we pick out diﬀerent options a bit by bit.
[slide 7]34

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動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪇䇽First, we chop whole apples and carrots into small
pieces; the right and the left piles have the sameamount. First, we increased the number of feeding
stuﬀ. This is the menu. There are a lot of options, but I
will skip this since it is too detailed. [slide 9] [slide 10]
This is how it is done. We place the chopped food on
top of the bars of the cages. We place the food in many
diﬀerent spots like this. Then, Kenny looks for the foodwith her nose. You can see that there is a carrot by theside, and you can see how she searches for the foodwith her nose to eat. Sometimes, I use the ladder to䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪋䇽hide the food in high places; I have a big smile on my䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪈䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪌䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪉䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪍䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪊䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪎䇽Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

35

face here. This takes a lot of time and eﬀort, so we dothis twice a week. [slide 11-14]
There is a moat, and we make a lot of glazing-bars
below the moat, and we place the food in this manner.
Above is the sleeping room for the elephants. The
elephants will stretch out its nose like this. The
elephants cannot see this area, so they would be relying
on the smell to search for the food with their noses.
[slide 17]
The pet bottle is being ﬁlled with food in this slide. It
is a bit embarrassing, but this is how it goes. [slide 18]

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A[slide 19]

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪏䇽A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A
A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

It is a bit diﬃcult to see, but there is a duct for thefan, and food is being placed inside [slide 20].
We place things such as pet bottles and peanuts inthere. Then the elephants suck with their nose or blowon it and take out the food a little by little to eat. We
sometimes put in raisins as well. [slide 21]
These are fire hoses, and they are filled with food.
There are about three sizes. We close one end of thehose with a bolt to stuﬀ the hose. When we do this, it isa bit diﬃcult to see. [slide 21] [slide 22]
Can you see that the elephant is holding a fire hose

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

36

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動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

with the tip of its nose? The hose contains hay cubes,

but the elephant ﬂings around the hose like this to takeout the food to eat. [slide 24]䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪉㪎䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪉㪋䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪉㪏䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪉㪌䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪉㪐䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪉㪍䇽This is a mat made from the fire hose that I justshowed, and we stuff food into the space between
the hose. This is a cardboard box filled with hay andchopped food. We do things such as placing it with thelid closed. [slide 25] [slide 26].
This is a hemp sack. We simply put food inside thehemp sack. This is a paper bag. Similarly, we put foodinside the paper bag as well. This is pasture grass, but
we wrap nets like these around the pasture grass. We
call this a straw doll; we tie the straw with rope made䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪇䇽Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

37

from hemp and we put food inside the straw. Then theand I remember having a difficult time retrieving it.

elephants rip this to take the food out to eat.

[slide 33] [slide 34] [slide 35]
This is a twig about as wide as a human arm with[slide 27-30]
This is a bit difficult to do, so we have not done thisa diameter of no more than 10 centimeters. The

recently, but this is how we use the tire. We use the tireas a place to hide food like this, not as a toy. [slide 31][slide 32]
This is the log. For logs with diameters over 20
centimeters, the elephants just peel the bark oﬀ to eat.
If the log is narrower, the elephants eat all of it. They
lift the log like this or shave the bark off with theirtusks to eat. After this, Chi dropped the log in the pool,䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪋䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪈䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪌䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪉䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪊䇽38

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動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

elephants will eat twigs like this. The elephants willtear up all of the twig to eat it. Like this, if the twig islarge, the elephants will stretch it, break it, and make acrunching sound as they eat it. [slide 37-] [slide 38]
When we get sugarcanes, this is how we give them tothe elephants. I think that the elephants are surprised
when their food tastes diﬀerent. [slide 39]
We think that the elephants will be angry when wekeep on feeding them small potatoes, so we try to feedthem large ones every so often. The elephants reallylike chocolate as well, so we buy chocolate like this to䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪐䇽give to them. [slide 40] [slide 41]䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪍䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪋㪇䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪎䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪋㪈䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪊㪏䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪋㪉䇽Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

39

In this slide, food is being buried. When we do this,Recently, the crows have become smarter, and they takethere is always a lady who calls us asking why we bury

the food that Kenny has left. So we also contribute a lot

the food. When this is broadcasted on television, weto the enrichment of crows. [slide 45]

apologize every time. [slide 42]
This is a log feeder. This is what we were using untila while ago; I think that you can tell that there is a smallhole, and that is where we stuﬀ in a little bit of peanuts.
The one on this photo ‒ this is a new one that we havemade recently ‒ is shaped like a dice so that we can use
all six sides of the feeder. [slide 43]
The elephants roll the feeder like this to take out thepeanuts to eat. [slide 44]
A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪋㪊䇽A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

This is log feeder number 3. It is long and narrow;the elephants do not roll this, but instead, when foodis put into this the elephants lift it up with their noses,bang it on the ﬂoor to shake out the peanuts, and eat
the peanuts that fall out. Thus, this one is used slightly
differently compared to the one I showed before this.
[slide 46]
This is used hanged, and this is similarly ﬂung around
A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

40

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動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

with the nose to get the food out. [slide 47]

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

Then, Kenny looks for the hidden food with her nose
like this. [slide 48] [slide 49]
In this slide, we are placing food in high places. Thisis about 5 meters high, so the place is quite high up.
We caution each other as we do this saying that it isdangerous if we fall oﬀ. The elephants stretch out theirnoses and search for food as they eat. The elephants
cannot see this area, so they search very carefully likethis. [slide 50-52]䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪋㪐䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪊䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪇䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪋䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪈䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪌䇽We tie pasture grass like this with hemp ropes. If the䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪉䇽We hide the hay cube in dents on the wall like this.

pasture grass is long, there is a ladder here so we place
the grass inside the ladder. [slide 53] [slide54]

Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

41This is a pool of rice straw. The elephants seldom eat
the straw, so we hide things like apples in this way. Thisis the place where we provide drinking water. We have
two drinking areas for the elephants, so sometimes, we
do not touch one area and ﬂavor the other with things
such as honey, salt, and also mud. We try to change theﬂavor of the water. [slide 55][slide 56]
This is just rice straw. The elephants will eat it if you
feed them this once every so often, so we sometimes try
to change the ﬂavor with things such as diﬀerent types
䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪐䇽of dried hay and twigs of trees that they do not usually
eat. Here, we chopped cabbage and scattered it on
purpose. [slide 57-59]㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪇䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪍䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪈䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪎䇽This is our newest equipment called log blocks. We
have a lot of sliced log pieces, and we stick in foodbetween the pieces of logs. Then the elephants use
their forehead or noses to lift the log up to take out the
food. Here, you can see a little bit of something like acarrot. We ﬁx this once during lunch and once in theevening ‒ twice a day ‒ but it takes a lot of eﬀort. [slide60] [slide 61]
This is a video of the area for exercising. I am
going to pause the video for a second, but right now,the elephant is using its nose to look for food. The

䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪌㪏䇽42

ワークショップ Ⅱ

動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

characteristic of the elephants in our zoo, as people

from other zoos tell us, is that they are laid back anddropped its food, but nowadays, the elephant skillfully

that they move slowly. The elephants move slowly

picks its food up. This day, we placed the food high up,

like this as they search for food. Here, the elephant is

so the elephant is also stretching its nose to reach up

looking for food on top. [slide 62]

and search. The video will continue like this, so I am

The video continues like this, so I will skip the rest.

going to go ahead and skip it. [slide 63]

Next is a slide regarding the recent condition of theindoor area. This is also a video. We also put effort
into being creative indoors, like we do for the outdoor
area. Here, right now, the elephant is sucking out foodfrom the duct and eating it. First, the elephant sucks
out food placed in the area that it can reach. When theelephant can no longer reach for the food, the elephantstarts releasing and eats the food making a rollingsound. Food is also hidden in the area where the door
is, and here, the elephant is looking for it with its nose.
This is inside the duct. I think that you can see a pet䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪋䇽bottle. It is around the nose. In a while the elephant[slide 64]
Evaluation through observation of behavior
Method・Evaluating the behavior of Chi and Kenny throughobservation in the area where they are let out.
・The observation of the behavior was conducted bytrained guide volunteers of the zoo.
・The method of observation was a one minute timesampling. One session was one hour, and observation
was conducted randomly regardless of the weather.
・The goal was to observe their behavior over 10 hours
per month.
・Data was collected from November 2005 to October
2006, a one year period.
・For the purpose of comparison, the behavior during
feeding time without enrichment (once, twice) was also
observed.

will release it. We carry out enrichment in many
places, but generally we always have hay ready for theelephants so that they can eat it any time wheneverthey want to and so that they can eat as much as theywant. Here, right now, the elephant is picking up the
stuff on the ground. At first, the elephant frequently䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪉䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪌䇽

We conducted many things in this way, and with thecooperation of Dr. Ueno, we conducted an evaluation
through an observation of their behavior. Here, I am
only going to show the part in the area for exercising,
because this is where it is the easiest to see theobservation of the behavior being conducted. We
also had the volunteers of the zoo cooperate. We
summarized the data collected over a one year period.
䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪊䇽[slide 64]

Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

43For comparison, we also looked at the feeding time

Experiment Having

without enrichment. We observed the elephant being

One Feeding Timefed once and twice ‒ both the same amount of food.
We researched the behavior of the elephants in thesesituations as well. This is a scene where a volunteer isobserving the elephant. [slide 65]
As a result, putting aside the details, if you can takea look at the part that says “foraging” and “searching”
you can see that the elephants were observed to exhibit
these behaviors approximately 73% to 75% of the time.
[slide 66]

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

Dangling nose

Turning in circles

Dangling nose

Turning in circles

Rubbing groundwith feet

Hurling oneself

Exploring things

Sand bathing

Self-assertive
behavior

Searching

Foraging/drinking

Moving aroundand dangling its nose, were exhibited frequently.

Standing stillthat stereotypic behaviors, such as turning in circles

Stretching nose

was exhibited over 50% of the time, but you can see

Swaying verticallyexperimental purposes, with Chi foraging/searching

Swaying sideways

When the elephants were only fed once for[slide 67]
This is the results when we had two feeding times.
You can see that the elephants were feeding/foraging
48% and 32% of the time. As a result, when comparing
the conditions of having only one feeding time andResults
Chi maleKennyfemaleA :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪍䇽

Rubbing ground withfeet

Hurling oneself

Exploring things

Sand bathing

Self-assertive behavior

Searching

Foraging/drinking

Moving around

Standing still

Stretching nose

Swaying vertically

動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

Swaying sideways

Hurling oneself

Exploring things

Sand bathing

Self-assertive behavior

Searching

Foraging/drinking

Moving around

ワークショップ Ⅱ

Standing still

Stretching nose

Swaying vertically

Swaying sideways

44[slide 68]
Experiment Having Two Feeding Times䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪍㪐䇽

Summary
・It is said that African elephants in the wild spend
18 hours a day (75%) foraging.
・It is difficult to make a simple comparison, butwith the activities that we engaged in and theobservation method that we used, we were able tohave the elephants search and forage for 73.4% to75.5% of the time.
・Environmental enrichment has the effect ofextending the time for searching and foraging.
・It also became clear that it has the effect of
decreasing stereotypic behaviors.

䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪇䇽[slide 70]
Summary of results
Top: enrichment carried out
Middle: having one feeding time
Bottom: having two feeding times

having two feeding times, more stereotypic behaviors
were observed and the time taken for foraging was
shorter when we had two feeding times. So, having two
feeding times yielded results that were not so good. If
you would like to know more details, please ask Dr.
Ueno later. I think that this is a very interesting result.
[slide 68]
To summarize, African elephants in the wild spend
approximately 18 hours foraging. Keeping this inmind, it is difficult to make a simple comparison,
but with the activities that we engaged in and theobservation method that we used, in the areas for

Enrichment other than “eating”

exercising, we were able to have the elephants foraging
for approximately 75% of the time, similar to the timespent in the wild.
The results showed that environmental enrichment
has the effect of extending the time that African䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪈䇽elephants engage in searching and foraging. It also

One activity that is very important to the life rhythm

had the eﬀect of decreasing the number of stereotypicof the elephants in the zoo is mud bathing. We have

behaviors. [slide 69]

made mud bathing areas like this. The elephants ‒ thisAs you can see, this is the summary of the results.
[slide 70]

is Kenny ‒ bathe in the mud in this way in the area that
we have created. The elephants are generally engaged
in this activity once every day throughout the year
whether it is winter or summer. The elephants bathe

Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

45

like this and put mud on their stomachs. When theelephants get excited, they lie down like this; I thinkthat when they do this, their backs look very sexy. [slide
72-76]

䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪉䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪍䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪊䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪎䇽[slide 77]
The eﬀects of mud bathing
・Breaks the bad habit of bathing in stool・Prevents the skin from being dry in the winter・Blocks direct sunlight in the summer䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪋䇽・Eﬀect on exhibition
The elephants seem to be enjoying!
Can we also expect some eﬀect on the mental stateof the elephants?
The following are the effects of mud bathing. Until
now, the elephants had a bad habit of rubbing theirown stool onto their bodies, but by monitoring thearea for mud bathing throughout a year, this bad habit
disappeared. In the winter, this prevents the skin䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪌䇽from drying up. In the summer, it helps the elephants
deal with the heat. Also, from the perspective of the46

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動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

visitors, the dynamic movement of the elephants is very
eﬀective. [slide 77]䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪏㪉䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪏䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪏㪊䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪎㪐䇽

Putting these points aside, the elephants seem to beenjoying themselves. So I think that we can also expect
some effects from the aspect of the mental state of
the elephants. Sometimes, the elephants are unable
to bathe in mud, because the zoo keepers need tocheck the area for mud bathing, and on these days, theelephants seem somewhat restless.
For mud bathing, we simply go to the mountains
to get mud, because the mud is consumed as theelephants bathe in it. This takes a lot of eﬀort. Other
than this, the elephants also bathe in sand like this.

䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪏㪇䇽The elephants also go into the pool like this to bathe inwater. The elephants soak completely into the waterlike they are soaking in hot springs, and they look veryrelaxed. [slides 78-83]
Other than this, we use this ﬁre hose that is about alittle more than two meters long. Inside the hose is anormal metal chain. The elephants take this and hit
their backs with it to itch their backs. It is not thatbad now, but in June, the skin of the elephants starts
peeling. There is a period where the skin molts. During
these periods it seems like the elephants feel itchy all䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪏㪈䇽

over, so you can see them often ﬂinging this onto theirWorkshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

47

the music to African music. This is very upbeat.

backs as they move around.

[slide 85]
Other than this, for the purpose of exposing animals
to other smells, we place the stool of other animals.
To the left is the stool of a black rhinoceros; we place
things like this inside the exhibition of elephants. Also,in the freezer is the stool of Asian elephants; it is frozen
for preparation. We sometimes place things like these.
[slide 86]
So what kind of eﬀects does this have? This is where
Kenny is sniffing the material. She seems like she is䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪏㪋䇽

thinking hard, but we still have not figured out theeﬀect of this. [slide 87]

Listening to music
Music therapy?

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

Currently, we also have the elephants listen to music.
There is such a thing as music therapy, but in our zoo,
we often have the animals listen to the radio. This isdone to have the animals get use to the sound fromoutside or to shut out the sound from outside. We wereInteraction with people (communication)

also using the radio for the African elephants, but we・Touchingheard that Mozart was good for music therapy, and we
decided to try Mozart. So, we started playing Mozart.
However, Mozart was very unpopular, so we changed
A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

We are currently putting a lot of eﬀort into interaction
Exposing animals to smells

with people and communication. We value simply
touching the elephants. This is because, especially
now, we only have one female elephant. For Africanelephants that live in herds in the wild, it is very
stressful to live alone. Being in charge of the elephant, I
frequently feel that elephants should not be kept alone.
However, since we have only one elephant, I want thezoo keepers to cover for this and heal her.

A :“:ˆ::»:…:w:w: : A

I have heard that simply touching the animal is goodfor animals that live together. So we include training

48

ワークショップ Ⅱ

動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

for touching, and we do training for the purpose ofJapanese crane sticks its head into the water like this totouching them. We also increase the number of times

look for the ﬁsh. [slides 91-94]

that the elephant interacts with people in such ways

Releasing live fish into
the poollike increasing times that the elephant is hand fed. In
the future, we would like to increase the interaction
with the elephant through training
Enrichment of Japanese cranes䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪈䇽Cho-san male
Born June 1995 at Higashiyama Zoo
The crane is fed pellets for cranes, britt, lake smelt, and Komatsuna (Brassica
campestris var. peruviridis) once a day䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪏㪐䇽

Next, if I have some time, I would like to move on totalk about Japanese cranes.
This is the Japanese Crane that we keep at our zoo,
and this is the video clip of the crane.
This is before enrichment was carried out. There isfood, ﬁsh, britt, pellets, and Komatsuna, placed in one
corner, and mealworms, larvae of beetles, are scattered.

䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪉䇽The crane is picking up the scattered mealworms. You
can see that there is nothing. So the crane was eating
like this. Even during its feeding time, the crane waswondering around moving between the feeding area
and the drinking area. [slide 89]
So, this is what we did. First, we released live ﬁsh into
the pool. If we release live ﬁsh, the crane will catch it
immediately.
So we made places for the fish to hide by placing
blocks. So, the fish hide between the blocks, and the䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪊䇽I n t r o d u c t i o n o fenvironmental enrichment䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪇䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪋䇽Workshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

49these gaps, so we thought that they would start digging
Scattering mealworms in leaves and on
the base of trees so that they would hide

if we placed a log with a small hole in it. So, we also
placed something like this. [slide 97] [slide 98]
Having the cranes dig the soil䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪌䇽A pool of leaves䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪏䇽

Automated insect collector䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪍䇽We also decided to scatter mealworms in leaves andon the base of trees so that they would hide. We also䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪐䇽made a pool of leaves.
When we scatter the mealworms onto the leaves, theThis has a really cool name to it, but what it does

Japanese crane digs through the leaves with its beakis it collects insects and flies. We put elephant stool

to look for the mealworms hidden between the leaves.

inside this pet bottle. Then, we thought that it would[slide 95] [slide 96]

attract ﬂies and the crane would try to catch the ﬂies.
Partition made with bamboo

However, the ﬂies did not ﬂy nicely, and it was not very
successful. [slide 99]䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪐㪎䇽

Until now, we were using partitions made with50

wooden boards, but we changed these to partitions䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪇㪇䇽made with bamboo. Japanese cranes love the smallThis is the environment that was made by carrying

gaps, so they peck at the small gaps. Japanese cranes

out enrichment. I think that the exhibition looks betterdig the soil as well. Japanese cranes especially likewith the plants too. [slide 100]

ワークショップ Ⅱ

動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

END䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪇㪈䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪇㪊䇽I have a video clip here. Here, the crane is looking for

not a method of exhibition.

the scattered mealworms. I think the crane has better

So, enrichment is simply for the welfare of animals ‒movement and has a face of a hunter now. Here, thethat is, it is what you do for the animals. Thus, because

crane is looking into the leaves.

enrichment is carried out for animals, it is not for theHere, the crane is searching for the ﬁsh released into

visitors. So we must consider the parts that cannot be

the pool. The fish are hiding in small spaces, so theseen by the visitors, such as the indoor areas where thecrane sticks its beak and looks for them. By carrying

visitors cannot see and the times when the zoo is notout these enrichments, I hope that you can tell that

open like the holidays.

the movement of the crane has changed. We also
conducted behavior observation for this, but we areunable to present the detailed results here.

I believe that I pay attention to these points when I
carry out enrichment.
So, if these aspects must be considered when thinking

As a result, the time the cranes foraged and searchedabout enrichment, I would very much appreciate it if

for food increased. I cannot tell you how much thethe visitors could understand that these places behindtime extended. There was a drastic change in the time

the scenes are the important parts. This is because

the cranes took to rest, or when they are sleeping. The

the time that the visitors can see is at the most 8 hours

time was decreased by approximately 50%. I personallyduring the time when the zoo is open; but we must be

thought that in cases of birds and Japanese cranes thataware of the fact that the remaining 16 hours is longer

do not exhibit stereotypic behavior as much as otherthan the time that the zoo is open.

species, the amount of time they take to sleep may
increase. [slide 101]

So, please understand that this time is necessary forthe animals.

No!

Enrichment= Method of
Exhibition

What this means is that when designing a new area
for the animals, we may use a lot of money for theindoor area or we may allot a lot of space for the indoor

Enrichment is carried out for the welfare of animals.

We need to consider all the 24 hours of their day.

areas where the visitors cannot see.
This is often the case, but I think that zoos in the
future will change in this way. I would like thevisitors to understand that this may be the case. The

Please understand that the environment that cannot be seenfrom the public visitors (such as indoor areas) is important.

understanding of everybody will change Japanese zoos
in the future; internationally speaking, zoos in Japan

Everybodyʼs understanding will lead to the improvement of the welfare ofanimals living in zoos.

䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㩷㪈㪇㪉䇽are behind.
I think that the understanding of everybody will

So to summarize, enrichment is not the equivalent

improve the welfare of animals living in zoos. To

of exhibition methods. I think that enrichment issummarize, I think that it is the understanding ofentertaining for the visitors as well, but enrichment iseverybody that will be the key to the improvement ofWorkshop Ⅱ Zoo Improvement/Enrichment

51

the welfare of the animals.

zoo keepers in charge of elephants gather. I present

My presentation may not have been very interesting,what our zoo has done in meetings like this. A lot of

but you will ﬁnd it more interesting if you look at thethe zoo keepers that have been in charge of elephants

actual elephant or the Japanese crane. So, please visit

have been in the post for a long time, but a lot of

the Higashiyama Zoo. Thank you.

these experienced zoo keepers and also the younger
generation are usually very interested in what we
do. They think that things we do are very good ideas,○ Yoshikazu Ueno
Thank you very much.

and I hear them say that they want to engage in these

Are there any questions regarding the presentation?

activities.
However, partly because of the eﬀort it takes, these

Please.

activities cannot be done individually, and it needs to○ Questioner
I was able to understand that the zoo keepers at thebe done as a team. So I think in this way, it is spreading

Higashiyama Zoo are being very creative and putting aon the individual level, but it is difficult to spread on

lot of eﬀort into carrying out enrichment.

the organizational level. However, I think that this willIs there something like a textbook, and is the ideachange from now on. Does that answer your question?

to use a model to develop what you are doing? Or
are you basing your activities on results of scientific○ Yoshikazu Ueno

experiments like those of Dr. Mason, and are you

Are there any other questions? Can we move on?

applying the results in considering what types ofThen, let us take a 10 minute break and go into generalactivities you are carrying out? This is my first

discussion. It is ten past right now so we would like toquestion.

begin at twenty past. Thank you very much.

The other question that I have is regarding theelephant that was in a poor condition; I think that it
was an elephant in Nogeyama Zoo. I live close by, andI feel bad looking at an animal that has a wide range

Now it is time so we would like to start the general
discussion.

of activities being locked up in a small cage and going

As mentioned in the ﬁrst part of the workshop, thisback and forth. There are these zoos on one hand, so I

workshop is on enrichment. However, this does notthink that models developed by zoos like Higashiyama

mean that the workshop only deals with the technicalthat are putting effort into carrying out enrichment

aspects of enrichment. Issues regarding the welfare

should be spread to other zoos in Japan. Are thereof animals, the purpose of enrichment, and issues

any movements regarding this area, and are there any

regarding the method of exhibition also came up inforces of resistance that becomes a barrier for suchthe workshop. As Mr. Suzuki and Mr. Hori mentioned,

movements?

enrichment in itself is not a technique for exhibition.

○ Tetsuya Suzuki

Enrichment is a technique used for the purpose ofThat is a very diﬃcult question for me to answer.

improving the welfare of animals. However, this isFirst of all, basically, there are no textbooks regarding

indivisible from techniques of exhibition, and it mustenrichment. I think that if you search, there are

be carried out as a set in zoos. Thus, enrichment must

theories, but as a person in practice, I think thatbe carried out in close relation to exhibition. Also, forcases should be considered case by case by looking

visitors, they do not necessarily need to be aware ofat the zoo, the practice, and the individual animal. I

the division; the fact that animals are behaving the way

think that consideration by people who see the actual

they should be is meaningful. There are three ways ofsituation will be more eﬀective. However, related to theviewing enrichment based on this meaning. It would beother question, I think that I would like to spread our

great if we can discuss our opinions and ideas from thisactivities to other zoos.

perspective.

In Japanese zoos, there is an elephant meeting where52○ Yoshikazu Ueno

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動物園におけるエンリッチメントの実際

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