Environmental enrichment is used in most zoos and with a lot of animals.
Environmental enrichment simply means that you try to vary the animals’
environment so they do not get bored and so they get exercise. In dolphinriums
the environmental enrichment can be that the dolphins get different toys to
play with. The toys can be everything from balls to sails and skirting-boards.
Often the environmental enrichment includes that you hide the animals’ food but
since dolphins only eat fish that have to be eaten before it get tainted you
can not hide the fish too good (so the dolphins do not find it). At Kolmården
Zoo the dolphin trainers sometimes put fish in large bottles with holes so the
dolphins can “play” with the bottle until they get the fish out of it.