Browse is the Way: Way More Than Just Enrichment

Many facilities offer browse as enrichment items for hoof stock in their care. As information grows on how browsers function both physiologically and behaviorally, though, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we should be providing browse to browsers as part of their diet and overall welfare, not just as an “extra “opportunity. Rather making the expectation of offering browse in a significant way, meaning larger quantities presented in different ways, the goal. Incorporating browse into animal programs through the commitment of resources (i.e. time, money and staff) acknowledging its importance in achieving better animal well-being. We have collected data on specific individuals in our giraffe herd to gauge how feeding different amounts, different pairings with grain, and different presentations of browse significantly changes the giraffes’ behavior. Through a variety of hypothesis testing, data collection, and problem solving, we believe we have found feeding strategies that increase browsing and rumination times, decrease stereotypic licking, and provide more opportunities for giraffe to use their natural behavior for longer portions of their activity budgets.