AnS 490-H: Part I; Building a Portable Environmentally Enriched Wagon for a North American Porcupine

Animal Industry Report, Mar 2018

The objective of this project was to design and construct a portable environmentally enriched wagon for a North American Porcupine with the intent for it to be used during educational presentations at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. The wagon design was built using SolidWorks. A nine-step process was developed to build the wagon: (1) cut the boards to proper length and secure with corner braces (2) place border around primary and secondary platforms (3) add casters to primary boards and pegs to secondary board (4) connect U-brackets to board underside for dowels to fit (5) cut and add plastic base to boards (6) place cork tiles on secondary board (7) secure tree trunk and branches to primary board (8) secure hide next to tree (9) add woodchips to primary board. It took approximately 53 hours with two persons to construct the wagon and cost ~$63. In conclusion, the construction of the portable environmentally enriched wagon was successful. It was cost friendly and completed within the desired time frame.

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AnS 490-H: Part I; Building a Portable Environmentally Enriched Wagon for a North American Porcupine

AnS 490-H: Part I; Building a Portable Environmentally Enriched Wagon for a North American Porcupine Animal Industry Report ASL R 0 1 2 0 Iowa State University , USA 1 This Small Ruminants is brought to you for free and open access by the Animal Science Research Reports at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Animal Industry Report by an authorized editor of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information , please contact , USA 2 Wagon for a North American Porcupine , " Animal Industry Report: AS 664, ASL R3262 Madison Deal Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ans_air Part of the Animal Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Deal, Madison and Johnson, Anna (2018) "AnS 490-H: Part I; Building a Portable Environmentally Enriched - AS 664 handle shaft were light brown and the casters black. Cork tiles were displayed as olive green with the floor mat beside it blue. Finally, the tree trunk and branches were white. The base with the tree trunk was considered the primary platform and the other side the secondary platform. Summary and Implications The objective of this project was to design and construct a portable environmentally enriched wagon for a North American Porcupine with the intent for it to be used during educational presentations at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. The wagon design was built using SolidWorks. A nine-step process was developed to build the wagon: (1) cut the boards to proper length and secure with corner braces (2) place border around primary and secondary platforms (3) add casters to primary boards and pegs to secondary board (4) connect U-brackets to board underside for dowels to fit (5) cut and add plastic base to boards (6) place cork tiles on secondary board (7) secure tree trunk and branches to primary board (8) secure hide next to tree (9) add woodchips to primary board. It took approximately 53 hours with two persons to construct the wagon and cost ~$63. In conclusion, the construction of the portable environmentally enriched wagon was successful. It was cost friendly and completed within the desired time frame. Introduction A zoo is where people come to see and become informed about a variety of animal species. During scheduled times zookeepers give educational presentations that cover pertinent subject matter areas, for example training exercise, nutrition, and health. This opportunity allows close interaction between person and animal. However, during these educational presentations, it is important to provide an environment that allows the animal to engage in natural species specific behaviors. Therefore, the objective of this project was to design and construct a portable environmentally enriched wagon for a North American Porcupine with the intent for it to be used during educational presentations at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Materials and Methods The project was approved by Alysia Hess and Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium Design Phase: The wagon design was created using SolidWorks (Figure 1). Each color represented a different construction item. The dark brown represented plywood for the borders and platform. The base legs, handle, and Amount Two Two One Box One Package One Package Two Forty One Six One Box One Box Four Boxes One Supplies: After the wagon design was completed the next step was to identify smaller supplies (Table 1). Most of the supplies were provided by the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Those items were not given a cost amount, hence the total spent was ~$63. Construction: A nine-step process built the wagon: (1) cut the boards to proper length and secure with corner braces (2) place border around primary and secondary platforms (3) add casters to primary boards and pegs to secondary board (4) connect U-brackets to board underside for dowels to fit (5) cut and add plastic base to boards (6) place cork tiles on secondary board (7) secure tree trunk and branches to primary board (8) secure hide next to tree (9) add woodchips to primary board (Figures 2 and 3). Environmental Enrichment Aspects: The portable environmentally enriched wagon was designed to meet the five enrichment categories. Although only one item is listed, an item could be cross-listed over several enrichment categories (Table 2). Occupational: Climbing and climbing promotes eating exercise Tree branches Nutritional: hide Climbing and food on branch, as foraging well as on wagon Woodchips Physical: substrate Comfort that the animals are familiar with Secondary platform Training Social: Give direct Human contact to keeper interaction whilst still being visible to public Cork tiles Physical: change New, softer in substrate that is flooring new to animal Note: Sensory enrichment may not have been listed in any of these items, but that was accomplished during the educational presentations by a food reward given by the trainer to the animal. In addition, it is pr (...truncated)


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Madison Deal, Anna Johnson. AnS 490-H: Part I; Building a Portable Environmentally Enriched Wagon for a North American Porcupine, Animal Industry Report, 2018, Volume 664, Issue 1,