Concerning animal behavior: How does environmental modification work?

Question

I'm just going over my class notes, and realizing that the example/stuff I read doesn't really explain this well.

Any help?

Also, can I get a good example of how habituation works?

This isn't a homework assignment or anything. I just want to make sure I understand every problematic behavior/solution thoroughly before I take my test.

Answer 1

What type of animal? You may get better results in the zoology section in the science tab.

Anyways- basically you change the environment to keep it dynamic for the animal. Changing environments help keep an animal alert and interested. They are usually less aggressive, healthier, and more active.

for example- you have a tiger in a cement floored cage with no toys. You add a toy- now there is something for that tiger to do every day, but pretty soon, that toy will get boring. You start hiding bits of meat around (or frozen meat popsicles- they love that). Now he has to actively "hunt" for the food- another activity to keep his mind stimulated.

Other things to do with that tiger- increase the cage size, put in dirt floors (at least partially), add layers to climb on, a pond, etc. You can feed raw meat instead of processed (eating only processed meat leads to a skull malformation and dental problems in big cats)

Every change (environmental modification) that you do, the tiger gets more mentally stimulated and can handle changes better. Usually, they are also less stressed out by changes, and more willing to work with their handlers.

Habituation- you slowly adding new things to the tigers exhibit and waiting until it is comfortable until added the next. If you did all the changes at once, you would severely stress out the tiger and probably give it a heart attack.

If you have any specific aspects you want me to address, you can email me. I just put down a general list.