Sensory stimulation as environmental enrichment for captive animals: a review

Wells reviewed how stimulating the senses, through olfactory, auditory, visual and tactile inputs, can enrich captive animals. She summarised evidence that scents such as spices and prey odours, sounds including music and conspecific calls, and visual and tactile novelties can alter behaviour and reduce stereotypy, while cautioning that effects are often species-specific and may habituate. The review organised a scattered literature into a coherent account of sensory enrichment and its limits. For felids, olfactory enrichment with novel scents is particularly relevant given cats' reliance on smell, and the review is frequently cited in designing and evaluating scent-based enrichment programs for cats and other carnivores.