Behavioral enrichment for captive tigers requires understanding their natural predatory lifestyle and providing opportunities for cognitive challenge, physical activity, and behavioral diversity.
Tiger enrichment welfare in zoos centers on providing cognitive challenge that partially meets the motivational needs of a large predatory felid evolved for wide-ranging hunting behavior. Without adequate enrichment, tigers develop stereotypic pacing and other indicators of chronic frustration. The most effective enrichment programs address multiple behavioral systems simultaneously - olfactory, locomotor, cognitive, and social - and rotate through different enrichment types to prevent habituation. Facilities that engage tigers in training programs using positive reinforcement report reduced stereotypy and improved keeper-animal relationships that support better health monitoring and veterinary care.