Environmental enrichment for dendrobatid frogs

The Central Park Zoo, one of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Living Institutions in New York, recently renovated an exhibit for dart-poison frogs. Staff developed a new hollow coconut insect feeder in conjunction with this project. When the exhibit change, coconut feeder, and other enrichments were tested for effectiveness, the coconut feeder enrichment produced the greatest increase in frog activity in traditional and new exhibits. This may be due to the coconut feeder's relatively complicated nature, which randomizes the release of insects into the exhibit. The goal of this project was to help develop a best-practices approach to dendrobatid husbandry for zoological facilities to use in the future.