Fay Clark

Cognitive challenge and animal welfare

We have known for many decades that animals are highly motivated to explore and solve environmental problems. Captive animals will seek out and work on challenges without an extrinsic reward such as food. Since the cognitive revolution of the 1950s, we have gained a deep knowledge of the cognitive skills of several with reference to humans, primarily primates, corvids and cetaceans. It is therefore surprising that ‘cognitive enrichment’ is the least studied and applied form of environmental enrichment for captive animals. In this talk, I will discuss the three overarching benefits of cognitive challenge to animal welfare, and specifically build the case for cognitive enrichment for zoo-housed animals. I will propose several approaches to how cognitive enrichment could be used in a zoo setting, incorporating new technological advances and measuring animal’s responses across their entire environment.