By Cody Mello-Klein

The Stone Zoo’s 9-year-old arctic fox is inquisitive to the point that most toys just aren’t enough. For an animal that needs complex cognitive enrichment, it can be hard to find something that will keep him on his toes and not sink into boredom, lethargy and potentially unhealthy behaviors.

Luckily, he has a new puzzle. Thanks to a Northeastern University professor and her student who created a box that, when rotated the right way, will release treats, Hudson is living his best life –– and attracting more visitors to his habitat.

The project, called Outfoxed, emerged from a first-of-its-kind class taught by Rebecca Kleinberger, an assistant professor at Northeastern University and director of the Interact Animal Lab, that challenges students to design innovative toys and enrichment tools for animals in an exercise that goes beyond the classroom. 

Two student projects, Hudson’s puzzle box and a scented bubble dispenser for a pair of elderly black bears, are still being used by the Stone Zoo.

“It was a whole crazy enterprise that I had no idea how we were able to pull off,” Kleinberger said. “There’s really no such class anywhere else in the world.”

Students work on real challenges —  not abstract problems — for real animals set forth by the Stone Zoo, New England Aquarium and Tandem Vet Care, a Boston area pet health provider.