Providing food through species-appropriate foraging behaviours rather than simple delivery combines nutritional provision with behavioural enrichment for zoo animals.
The way food is delivered to zoo animals is as welfare-relevant as the nutritional content. In the wild, the search for food provides cognitive stimulation, physical exercise, and occupies a substantial proportion of daily time. In zoos, delivering food in a bowl requires seconds to consume, leaving hours of unfilled time. Foraging enrichment restores the time-budget function of feeding, providing cognitive and physical engagement alongside nutrition. Well-designed foraging enrichment reduces stereotypic behaviour, increases natural movement, and improves the animal's experience of its captive environment.