FEB 05, 2014 9:00 AM PST

Going Back to Nature: The Benefits of Wood Enrichment

Speaker

Abstract

Environmental enrichment can be defined as altering the living environment of captive animals in order to provide opportunities to express more of their natural behavioral repertoire. The challenge of providing effective enrichment in laboratory species is to ensure it allows for normal behavioral opportunities. For many animals, these behaviors include foraging, sheltering, exploring, nest building and gnawing. In the wild, many species use wood and bark to satisfy these behaviors, thereby maintaining physiological and behavioral health. For laboratory animals, a variety of wood enrichment products are available that will provide appropriate environmental enrichment and satisfy those same needs. A discussion of wood varieties will be defined and a review of species appropriate wood enrichments will be discussed highlighting safety considerations when selecting wood products.


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FEB 05, 2014 9:00 AM PST

Going Back to Nature: The Benefits of Wood Enrichment



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