The sound of a bright ding and a trainer’s whistle cut through the night air. The dolphin, having successfully completed a level of the video game we were using for a research study, knew the sounds meant she could receive her fish reward. Instead, she chose to stay and play another level rather than go back to the trainer. She had successfully used the pair of portals, two ovals on the screen that teleported the avatar she was controlling from one oval to the other, in order to navigate around an impassible wall and collect her prize, a two-dimensional sea shell.

The next level had the same prize, and now double the fish reward waiting for her (if she chose to go receive it), and it was even easier. There were still two portals on the level, but she didn’t need to use them. To win, she had to avoid the portals that would no longer get her closer to colliding with the shell.

But she didn’t.

For over fifteen minutes, the dolphin played with the portals, her on-screen avatar traveling between the two portals over, and over, and over.

As a scientist, I was wondering how we were going to explain this in the eventual peer-reviewed publication (I promise she knew what to do, she was just having fun, trust me…). But as a dolphin trainer and a life-long marine mammal-obsessed person, I was giddy. Her play with the portals would be challenging to interpret in the assessment of insightful problem solving, but it was clear that she found the gameplay interesting.

At the end of the day, the game was supposed to be a form of enrichment. We watched as she brought her avatar close to the shell, but just out of the range of the “gravity” pull mechanic that would cause a collision. We would hold our breaths in anticipation of her finally winning, only for her to travel full-speed toward a portal to resume her play. As she continued to engage with the disappear-reappear mechanic, it couldn’t have been clearer.

She was enriched.

Enrichment for animals in professional care, such as zoos and aquariums, is an important aspect of maintaining positive welfare. Animals living in zoos and aquariums don’t face the life-or-death challenges that they have evolved to overcome, such as locating food and avoiding predators. Their needs, such as a nutritional diet and a safe habitat, are instead met through the efforts of animal care and veterinary staff. That can mean that the cognitive and behavioral skills that they evolved to deal with those challenges may not be used as often. This can potentially lead to boredom. Environmental enrichment aims to provide safe ways for animals to practice those skills.

*A dolphin plays with natural environmental enrichment, a mangrove propagule from his habitat.*

Enrichment comes in many different forms, and is generally broken down into five types: Physical/Structural (changing the habitat design), Nutritional (providing food in a different way), Sensory (adding scents, sounds, or something visual to the habitat), Social (interacting with caretakers or other animals), and Cognitive (puzzle boxes or training sessions). Enrichment often overlaps between two types. For example, keepers might create a puzzle feeder that provides nutritional enrichment, but also requires the animal to put in some cognitive effort of problem solving to get to the reward.

A dolphin retrieves a cooperative problem-solving enrichment device (Kuczaj et al., 2015). When the canister is successfully opened, most easily accomplished by two dolphins working together, fish is released from the device.

Maintaining a robust enrichment program can be challenging. As trainers, keepers, and parents know all too well, a favorite toy can quickly become boring. Changing the enrichment session type, the objects given, or the behaviors being asked for during a training session, keeps animals interested and engaged. Of course, being variable takes a lot of time, financial support, and effort. With animal safety as a priority, oftentimes new toys need to be extensively vetted through internal safety committees before they are provided to the animals. And, inevitably, it seems like the more effort a keeper puts into creating some fantastic new enrichment for the animals they love, the more likely the animals will ignore it in favor of a cardboard box (sound familiar, cat owners?).

This is an area where technology can shine.

A rough-toothed dolphin watches a video of a sea lion on a television. The image on the bottom right corresponds to what the dolphin is seeing in this moment, resulting in a bubble-burst from the dolphin.

Computerized enrichment, whether touch screens, buttons, or joysticks, allows animals to engage sensorily and cognitively. Once the animal understands the basic concept to operate their system (touch what is correct, move your cursor to the goal), they can easily apply this to those new tasks. New videos, sounds, and game challenges can be introduced without needing to design an entirely new enrichment setup. Being able to reuse already existing and approved equipment, while increasing variability, is a win-win for both the animals and the organization.

By expanding on the decades of research that has been done with different animals, from those with thumbs to those with flippers, we are looking to the future. ACE was founded with a passion for gaming and animal welfare, designing systems and training plans for animals of all sizes and habitats.

For the dolphin that chooses to stay and play, the seal that excitedly galumphs to his controller, and the dog that whines until I turn on her game so we can play: ACE is for you.

Computer Games as Enrichment?