It wasn’t just youngsters who received toys this past Christmas. Even the “big cats” at Zoo New England’s Franklin Park Zoo in Boston and Stone Zoo in Stoneham got their share of presents, thanks to freshman engineering students at UMass Lowell.

Nearly 400 students participated in a collaborative service-learning project with Zoo New England as part of the University’s Introduction to Engineering course, taught by Prof. David Kazmer and Dr. Stephen Johnston of the UML’s Department of Plastics Engineering. The project required students to develop safe, innovative enrichment devices that would encourage the cats to interact with their environment in ways similar to how they would in the wild.

To get started, the class went on a field trip to Franklin Park in early October for a “paws-on” look at the cats residing in the zoo’s Kalahari Kingdom and Tiger Tales. The zoo staff discussed their needs with the class and explained the purpose of enrichment. The students then brainstormed unique enrichment ideas, formed teams and went to work designing and building the devices.

At UMass Lowell in December, the teams gave demonstrations of their finished projects to University faculty, staff and administrators as well as officials of Zoo New England. More than 30 of the teams’ projects were turned over to the zoo. These ranged from simple devices such as a large, hard-plastic ball mounted on a spring to more complex setups such as an artificial rain machine. The students incorporated treats, exotic sounds and scents, fog, soap bubbles, streams of water and various physical shapes and textures into their designs to stimulate the cats’ senses.

“Overall, I was overwhelmed by the results of this collaboration,” said John Linehan, president and CEO of Zoo New England. “While there was a broad range in the creativity and workmanship, a number of the devices are ‘ready for prime time.’ Some of the concepts displayed incredible creativity.”

Johnston was enthusiastic about the results. “The project was a great success,” he said. “The effort and resourcefulness that the students put forth in the design and building of their projects were truly awesome, and you could actually feel the excitement in the workshop during the final week of construction.”

“Students had a budget of only $10 per person,” Kazmer explained. “They had three weeks to design the enrichment devices and another three weeks to actually build them. It was interesting that many of the best projects relied heavily on free or donated materials, such as logs, scrap metal and used drums.”

The devices will likely be introduced to the cats over a period of time, some sooner and others later, depending on the zoos’ resources and the amount of preparation (for example, pouring concrete for foundations) needed. “Many will have to wait for spring, but others will be put to use sooner,” said Linehan.

“I’ve supplied a webcam that the zoo may install so the students can see their work in action,” said Kazmer.

“While the main targets for this project were lions and tigers, many of these designs will work for other cats and even canids, or members of the dog family,” said Linehan. “One of the keys to successful enrichment is that the toys not be left in the animals’ environment continuously. Therefore, as practical, many of these devices will be disinfected and rotated between species and, in fact, between zoos. At Franklin Park, they may be used with lions, tigers, leopards, ocelots, African wild dogs and coyotes. At Stone Zoo, they may be utilized by jaguars, snow leopards, cougars, lynx, wolves, coyotes and foxes. With some minor modifications, they could be appropriate for some other species as well.”

Linehan hopes to continue this collaboration with UMass Lowell and to build on it. “Any partnership where expectations are exceeded is one that is worth the investment,” he said.