About
Enriching the lives of animals by bringing out their wild side.
Animals have to work really hard to survive in the wild. They use their mental and physical capabilities to do things like hunt, build homes, forage for food, hide from predators, and find a mate. When an animal lives in a zoo or sanctuary, their caretakers ensure that they have plenty of food, water, and shelter. Zoo animals’ lives don’t depend on their mental and physical capabilities—they’ll get fed and cared for anyways. While these animals live incredibly comfortable lives, they can get bored or stressed if they are not challenged both mentally and physically.
We create and evaluate puzzles, toys, and games to stimulate problem-solving and physical activity. All of our puzzles and toys (called enrichment) are intended to provide animals with experiences that mimic ones they may encounter in the wild—like foraging for food or using a tool to get a reward. Our cutting edge products are durable, safe for animals, and can be changed in hundreds of ways to give animals new challenges every day.
We also aim to inspire animal caretakers to create interesting, dynamic enrichment for the animals under their care. Our team is committed to educate people about the importance of enrichment, gather enrichment-related resources for animal caretakers, and share enrichment ideas with the animal care community.
The Animal
Vending Machine
We have developed a brand new type of enrichment device that puts a technological spin on foraging enrichment—the Animal Vending Machine. The Animal Vending Machine accepts tokens in exchange for a small amount of food, and is compatible with nuts, dried fruits, popcorn, and more. Animal caretakers can hide or scatter tokens around an exhibit, and then animals can search for the tokens and exchange them with the vending machine for a reward. Tokens can also be hidden in puzzle feeders and other enrichment devices for a more challenging task. The Animal Vending Machine promotes foraging behaviors while encouraging animals to move and explore their environments in new ways. Our machine adds steps to the traditional foraging process that require problem solving and physical activity, so animals spend their time engaging in natural behaviors instead of abnormal or boredom-based ones.
