Puffins are beloved seabirds whose welfare in captivity requires specialized coastal exhibit design, appropriate social grouping, and careful fish-based dietary management.
Puffin welfare in captivity requires exhibit design that accommodates their diving and swimming needs, appropriate colonial social housing enabling natural behavioral repertoires including courtship and social interactions, and dietary management that allows natural fish-catching behavior. Exhibits with diving pools of sufficient depth, nesting burrow access, and fish presentation methods that challenge their natural foraging behavior provide better welfare than simple fish feeding. Puffins serve as charismatic ambassadors for ocean health and seabird conservation in well-managed coastal aquarium and zoo exhibits.