Evidence-based behavioral enrichment for captive gorillas, from foraging challenges to cognitive devices and habitat complexity.
Gorilla behavioral enrichment is most effective when it is integrated into the daily management of the group rather than treated as an add-on. The most welfare-enhancing environments for gorillas are those where foraging, exploration, social interaction, and rest occur naturally throughout the day as a consequence of habitat design rather than requiring staff to actively deliver enrichment at scheduled times. Scatter feeding throughout naturalistic substrate, browse availability for continuous foraging, complex three-dimensional habitat, and social dynamics that allow choice and agency create gorillas whose behavioral time budgets resemble those of wild counterparts and whose positive welfare indicators are consistently present.