Survey on the Past Decade of Technology in Animal Enrichment: A Scoping Review

Simple Summary Enrichment is important for supporting the well-being of captive animals. Enrichment increase animal quality of life through encouraging natural behaviours. As enrichment is shifting to a more centered role in animal care, technology is becoming increasingly accessible and is becoming embedded in animal enrichment in creative ways. This review explores the trends in technology usage in animal enrichment studies. Through pulling the past decade of technology enrichment work together, we discuss gaps such as needing to include a larger variety of species (extending passed mammals), ensuring enrichment designs focus primarily on the senses an animal uses to interact with the world rather than human senses, and encouraging similar study designs across animal contexts to allow for streamlined comparisons. Environmental enrichment is adding complexity to an environment that has a positive impact on a captive animal as a necessity of care. Computing technology is being rapidly weaved throughout the space in both enrichment devices as well as evaluating enrichment outcomes. In this article, we present a scoping review of 102 captive animal enrichment studies and propose a contextual lens for exploring current practices. We discuss the importance of directed growth in species inclusion, transitioning beyond anthro-centric designs, and utilizing shared methodologies.