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Sensory enrichment has been used to improve the welfare of nocturnal and diurnal primates in captivity. This study looked at whether nocturnal and diurnal primate species would respond differently to four sensory enrichment conditions based on the differences in their natural history. Subjects were two nocturnal primates, pygmy slow lorises and douroucouli monkeys, and two diurnal primates, golden lion tamarin and black and white ruffed lemur. In general, diurnal primates were found to respond more to the olfactory, auditory, and tactile enrichment than nocturnal primates. The nocturnal primates were found to be more responsive to visual enrichment. These results may be used to suggest what types of sensory enrichment could be most effective for these species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the training of degus, rodents native to Chile, for their management in animal care programs in Unity College, Maine. Topics include natural history of degus, their dominance behaviors, their maintenance, challenges in the training such as injury to care taker and escapes, stages of training,