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Writer's pictureCharles "Ghost" Coutts

Personal Logs... "Environmental Enrichment"

(Opinion)


I am going to quote something from a paper I read and instead of listening to me, listen to them and your mind should start making connections to what is happening in the real world around us every day.


I would like everyone to take the time to read through this paper carefully, so it gets where it needs to be in your mind.


Then if you want more, hit the link at the end of this scribble. The only way we can recognize that we are being manipulated is to understand how we are being manipulated.


The original paper can be found HERE.


I really want y'all to take some time and think about this because understanding this particular aspect of animal husbandry connects to almost everything I scribble about.


It is a key to understanding how our behavior is predictable and therefore easily manipulated.


Human beings are animals, and we are also primates. In fact, humans belong to the family Hominidae (Great Apes) along with gorillas, chimpanzees and a host of other primates.


Even though I staunchly believe in evolution I do not believe that humans evolved from apes.


I believe that humans evolved alongside the other apes as our own species on our own evolutionary path.


No one will ever change my mind on this because it makes just as much or more sense than anything else I have read or heard about.


However, before that point where our evolutionary paths diverged as humans left the trees and began forming the most rudimentary societies (tribes), we shared a collective mind with the other primates because we still were driven by survival instincts.


That point before we went our own way is still with us, Carl Jung called it the collective consciousness, some refer to it as our "Lizard Brain" because it was the driving force of our existence for the majority of our early evolutionary process.


Every living human being still possess that primitive mind so common sense dictates that if one wants to find ways to manipulate human beings on a subconscious level, one studies other primates, because any manipulation tactics that work on other great apes can be used to predict and then manipulate the highest level of great ape, human beings.


Animal husbandry is how we humans have learned how to manipulate other animals into behaviors we find more to our liking.


Every methodology we use to control other animals can also be used to control us humans who are ignorant to these processes.


I may have mentioned a time or two that IMO the very reason we were conditioned not to worry about psychology but just "listen to the experts" was an intentional act to make us unable to recognize any psychological warfare the manipulators may use against us in the future.


For millions of us though that conditioning did not take, we did learn, we can understand, and we recognize the methodology being used on those who do not.



 


I am going to jump out of here and rest my wrist but as you read through the paper quoted below I would like you to keep a couple of things in mind for comparison purposes.


  • Think about how the manipulators are trying to structure our society right now, Agenda 2030 if you are aware of it or you may recognize the term UN Agenda 21. If none of those rings a bell you might want to stop and do some research. The entire plan results in humans being held captive in mega cities (cages) made up of 15 minute districts or even buildings (smaller cages).

  • Think about all of the free stuff being promised if we humans just give up our rights and become slaves. Humans are the only animal that will enslave themselves on nothing but a worthless promise, but that promise is "Environmental Enrichment" even if it does only exist in the captive's mind. Greed, envy, lust, all work to keep the captive focused on that false, manufactured hope and they can be manipulated to attack any square on the board without question.


Now below I dropped a link that goes into more detail about this but the references are a bonanza of information all in themselves.


The more knowledge we get the smarter we become, the more knowledge we can understand the less we can be manipulated.


Introduction to environmental enrichment for primates
Environmental enrichment refers to items or stimuli that are provided to captive animals to support their behavioral needs. All animals evolved distinct behavioral patterns, and difficulty in engaging in these behaviors can cause frustration or boredom, which, in turn, can lead to stress and the development of abnormal behaviors. Enrichment provides a way to increase opportunities for the expression of species-specific behaviors and decrease the occurrence of abnormal behaviors. As such, environmental enrichment is an integral part of caring for captive animals.
Two of the primary goals of enrichment are to reduce stress and improve the psychological well-being of captive animals. Animals living in captivity are exposed to a variety of stressors in their daily lives. Common husbandry practices, such as cage changes or cleaning, and environmental factors such as lighting, noise and temperature, may cause stress for some individuals. Environmental enrichment can help to ameliorate the effects of potential stressors associated with the captive environment and enhance the animals’ physical and mental health. Furthermore, enrichment can help promote resiliency to stress, which helps animals recover, behaviorally and physiologically, from aversive stimuli. This increased ability to respond appropriately to stress is widely considered an important aspect of well-being in captive animals.
Enrichment is often classified into five broad and overlapping categories: social, physical, sensory, food, and cognitive/occupational. Ideally, animals should receive enrichment from all categories. Social enrichment typically consists of housing individuals with conspecifics, although it may also include interaction between a nonhuman primate and its caretaker. Positive human-primate interactions can promote psychological well-being for both species. Social enrichment is described in more detail here. Physical enrichment is a common form of enrichment and includes items designed to provide physical structure (such as perches, floor substrate, or climbing areas) and items that provide opportunities to explore or manipulate (such as toys, mirrors, etc.). Sensory enrichment provides animals with visual, tactile, and olfactory opportunities and includes exposure to various sights (often through television or computer screens), sounds, and smells. Food enrichment provides opportunities for captive animals to increase the amount of time they spend searching for, processing, and eating, behaviors which occupy much of the activity budget of most species in the wild. It includes the use of foraging devices, many of which are commercially available. Finally, cognitive and occupational enrichment provide opportunities for nonhuman primates to obtain physical and/or mental stimulation, and includes both exercise and problem-solving tasks. Animal training can be considered a type of cognitive enrichment because the animals are learning.
While specifics may change across species, there are general tenets of successful enrichment programs.
  • Be aware of the species’ natural history. Enrichment plans should be customized for the species that is being enriched. Enrichment programs that are appropriate for one species may be inappropriate for another. For example, while owl monkeys (Aotus spp.) utilize nests in the wild, and should be provided with nest boxes in captivity, such nest boxes would be of little value to most macaque species.

  • Enrichment should be goal-oriented. In general, the goal of enrichment is to provide opportunities for animals to increase their time spent in species-typical behaviors and to reduce the amount of time spent in abnormal or undesirable behaviors. Items or approaches that are not achieving appropriate outcomes should be modified or eliminated.

  • Enrichment should do no harm. Safety is an important factor to consider when providing enrichment. Care must be taken to avoid injuries that may occur with various enrichment items. Additionally, in the laboratory setting, it is important to ensure that enrichment does not have untoward effects on experimental outcomes.

  • Enrichment should be evaluated. Enrichment offerings should be empirically evaluated to ensure they are meeting their goals. Items that do not have a demonstrable effect upon the well-being of the animals should be reconsidered, and potentially replaced. Enrichment items that are shown to have negative effects (e.g., decreased reproduction, illness), should be eliminated. Even enrichment that has been effectively used for long periods should be regularly evaluated to ensure it is still achieving its desired behavioral goals.


Something to think about, ill next time.

 

The method of evil is not to attack directly but to hide behind all things good whispering dark corrupting messages into the minds of those who would listen. ~Ghost

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