The Nuts and Bolts of Captive Chimpanzee Diets and Food as Enrichment: A Survey

Beyond planning for good nutrition, one of the Cornerstones of a successful captive-chimpanzee wellness program is the opportunity for the nonhuman primates to express normal feeding and foraging behaviors. This study presents the results of a survey of 11 institutions-8 zoological and 3 research facilities-given to ascertain how daily diets and feeding enrichments were accomplished. Information represents 806 captive chimpanzees, and entails a composite of captive chimpanzee daily diets, forage and browse materials, periodic treats, medicating and supplemental foods, alternative feeding techniques, and food devices. Results suggest facilities are moving away from timed feeding schedules, which tend to increase prefeeding levels of agonism, to feeding a wide variety of foods throughout the day and using a wide variety of feeding techniques.