This report highlights the steps taken to design a foraging device that engages captive ring-tailed lemurs in a natural way. After identifying the stakeholders and their requirement, research into ringtailed lemurs’ natural and captive situation is done with the goal of identifying opportunities for design to enhance the lemurs’ welfare in captivity. At the same time, it also aims to improve zoo visitors experience.

As a result, a design is introduced that focuses on purposeful locomotion to increase activity, promoting different foraging interactions, stimulating multiple senses, and giving the animals a choice on when and how to interact. At the same time, it is shaped to look like a fruit these animals would eat in nature, and its placement increases the time lemurs spend close to the visitors

Multiple rounds of prototyping and tests with the ring-tailed lemurs in Rotterdam Zoo have been done to refine the concept and to assess its effectiveness. These test results seem promising, as lemurs interacted many times with the prototypes. The effectiveness of the final designed system and its long-term efficacy needs to be assessed in the future.

The final design consists of multiple wirelessly (un)lockable pods filled with food and connected to a scent machine. A number of these are unlocked at a time and a scent cue is given, prompting the lemurs to go investigate. Unlocked pods stay attached to their base using magnets, thus lemurs need to interact with both locked and unlocked pods to figure out which can be detached. This feeding system is an addition to the lemurs’ normal feeding regiment, as a result they are stimulated and engaged more than before.