Philosophy of environmental enrichment: past, present, and future

The brief tenure of environmental enrichment has been influenced both direc tly and indirectly by the field of psychology, from the work of B.F. Skinne r to that of Hal Markowitz. Research on enrichment supports the supposition that an enriched environment does indeed contribute to a captive animal's well-being. Critical elements of effective environmental enrichment are 1) assessing the animal's natural history, individual history, and exhibit con straints and 2) providing species-appropriate opportunities, i.e., the anim al should have some choices within its environment. This paper presents a h istoric perspective of environmental enrichment, proposes a broader, more h olistic approach to the enrichment of animals in captive environments, and describes a framework or process that will ensure a consistent and self-sus taining enrichment program. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.