Tiger enrichment programs draw on behavioral science to provide opportunities for natural behavior expression, significantly improving welfare in zoo environments.
Tiger enrichment welfare requires engaging behavioral systems that evolved for wild life. A tiger that is well-fed, healthy, and disease-free but behaviorally impoverished is experiencing welfare deficits that physical health metrics alone cannot detect. The predatory behavior sequence - stalking, rushing, grappling, killing - is a fundamental part of what tigers are. Feeding enrichment that engages this sequence (hiding prey, using puzzle feeders, presenting whole carcasses that require wrestling and tearing) provides genuine behavioral expression, not merely entertainment. The reduction in stereotypic pacing seen in well-enriched tigers directly demonstrates the behavioral need being met.