How prey-based enrichment programs improve welfare for snow leopards and other large felids in captivity.
Prey-based enrichment for carnivores is one of the most behaviorally appropriate forms of zoo enrichment because it engages the primary behavioral system that defines carnivore ecology. Snow leopards and other large felids denied the opportunity to stalk, ambush, and process prey show behavioral impoverishment even when their other needs are met. Whole prey feeding, scent enrichment, and mechanically complex feeders that require predatory manipulation activate the behavioral systems these animals evolved for. This form of enrichment goes beyond keeping animals occupied — it allows them to be what they are.