Taking care of chimpanzees is more than cleaning enclosures and serving them meals. There’s a lot more that goes into it. We also ensure the chimpanzees are well mentally. This is usually through the form of enrichment. Enrichment is a way to provide mental stimulation and promote natural behaviors. In layman’s terms, enrichment is a way to try to curb boredom. When animals become bored, some abnormal or stressed-related behaviors can start to develop.
Here, we try very hard to keep all 16 residents enriched to the best of our abilities. But what does that look like? Traditionally in the animal care field, enrichment comes in a few staple categories:
- Cognitive
- Physical Habitat
- Social
- Food
- Sensory
Cognitive enrichment is the form of enrichment you have seen here many times. These are the food puzzles the chimpanzees get throughout the day. These are the toys some interact with. This is a way for the chimpanzees problem solve and give them a level of control of their environment. With the food puzzles, its a way to problem solve a situation in order to achieve the reward.
Physical Habitat is the how the enclosure is set up. Not only should an enclosure probably look visible appealing for the chimpanzees, but it should be functional as well. Young’s Hill has a plethora of structures the chimpanzees can climb, swing, and sit on to look out on to the surrounding areas. In the indoor enclosures, firehose is a great addition to their physical habitat.
In the two new playrooms and greenhouses currently occupied by Willy B’s group and Cy’s group, there are two artificial trees the chimpanzees can climb up and relax on their platforms.
Social enrichment is the relationship the chimpanzees have with others, chimpanzees and humans. It can be enriching to interact with a chimpanzee from another group, even if it is just through the window.
As you know, we have been in the process of integrating Cy and Willy B’s group into one. Though these times can be stressful, seeing some of the chimpanzees come together and form bonds is the most heartwarming feeling a caregiver can get.
Food can be exciting and enriching, but food on it’s own is just something you eat to satisfy an empty belly. What can make food more enriching is introducing new foods or presenting it in new ways. We are continuously trying to find new foods to introduce to the chimpanzees. We also try to present the food in different ways. Besides hand serving we also set up forages. Typically when the weather is nice, we set up forages on Young’s Hill. This promotes a chimpanzee’s natural behavior to move around and search for their food.
Another type of forage presented in an exciting way is the parties we throw.
Sensory enrichment includes those which allow the chimpanzees to utilize their sense of touch, smell, auditory, and vision. We try to provide them with novel ways to utilize these senses.
As some know, Willy B loves screen time. This is one way we provide him with both a visual and auditory enrichment.
Is everything we do a hit? No. Is what is good for one group good for the other? No. Do we continuously try to find ways to ensure every chimpanzee is enriched based on their personal preference and likes? Absolutely! Though this can be a very challenging task to cater enrichment for 16 very different personalities and likes, it is absolutely worth it. It is part of the job I personally love.
Here are some bonus photos I took of Rayne today:
And Dora!
Thanks Chad, what a great blog.
Just as Willy B enjoys watching movies of orangutans, some of the orangutans at the zoo where I volunteer have taken great interest in movies of chimpanzees.
It does sound both challenging and tons of fun, Chad!
Every time Halloween rolls around, and I see “play with your food” ideas in magazines, such as a skeleton made of veggies/crudtiés, I think of you guys.
Thank you Chad. Fascinating blog and wonderful photos. Love the ones of you and Sam showing them videos… and Jamie and Bubba watching the neighbors. You do so well with enrichment. If only they could talk and tell you how much they love it.. and what they love most..
Does Willy B ever watch videos from BOSF? I’ve fallen down rhe rabbit hole watching jungle school.
When the chimps are working on their enrichment puzzles it’s always so amazing to watch their faces as they solve things. Last night I was watching an old video about the plastic tubing you give them.
Annie using hers as a straw to drink from Jamie’s smoothie is one of my favorites.
that video is one of my all time favorites!!!
It makes me laugh every time.
I absolutely love the part where Jamie looks sideways at Annie, as if to say:
“you are so mean Annie..”
Not only did I love that, I love the fact that Annie got away with it!
Laurie, I just got an email today about “the graduation of Beni, Meryl, and their friends to a pre-release island and learn about the roller coaster that can be orangutan friendships.”
https://www.orangutan.or.id/graduation-day?utm_source=BOSF+–+English+Database&utm_campaign=25d556e717-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_01_04_06_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_849285f4f4-25d556e717-149608932
I’m not entirely sure if we have shown him a full episode of Jungle School yet. I know he has definitely seen the previews posted on YouTube. He has a couple of documentaries he watches, which include The Last Orangutan Eden, and Orangutan Diaries. Plus a ton of orangutan videos posted on YouTube.
Thank you, Chad. Great blog, very interesting. I think you all are brilliant!
Oh Rayne, silly pucker face Rayne I should say. She looks like a character from a Dr. Seuss book. Rayne seems so dear.
Great post! I can see how sourcing, finding, and presenting the perfect enrichment item would be the best part of your job. I can only relate through my experience volunteering at shelters for dogs. I know the thrill of finding the perfect toy, puzzle, walking trail, scent game, training session, or snuggle session. When you see that you have made your friends day better through a challenge, a ball toss, a good long sun-soak, a special snack….there is no better feeling. You see it on their face, in their eyes. And you feel it.
I always enjoy your personal touches to the chimps parties. You are so creative Chad, and it is always a joy to watch the videos and look through photos of the gang enjoying your culinary delights! Like my dogs, there is no better feeling than seeing and hearing the chimps enjoying themselves. I feel it, even through my computer screen.
Speaking of food enrichment, do you still feed the chimps jackfruit? And if yes, does your local Safeway still carry it?
They still do get jackfruit when it is available. But recently it hasn’t been available locally. Our local Safeways usually do carry it but it’s been a few months since any of us have seen them.
Thank you for the insight into the workings of the sanctuary. It must be incredibly gratifying when a situations or food works for them!
This blog is not only informative …the photos are …as always ..amazing. The O-Lanterns and shrunken apple heads just show how the caregivers go above and beyond! Thank you!
I haven’t even read the whole blog yet. So I’ll probably be commenting again. But I came across this sentence
“and give them a level of control of their environment.”
Well Honey B definitely had a level of control over her environment when she HID that little bolt in the doorway! Still LingMAO!
I’m so happy to hear about the friendship between Cy and Willy B. warms my heart. They are both so cool!
Food. in the wild they eat a lot of figs. When I first found CSNW last year I sent a box of figs. Do you generally feed them figs? Often or once in a while? Do figs excite them? I wonder because maybe they just like them in the wild because that’s what is available to them? But if they Love love love them, I could send another box. Sometimes I stop myself from sending certain things because I know you probably can get them way cheaper than the retail price online. you probably get most stuff wholesale.
So anything challenging is enrichment? Well that means YOU get an awful lot of enrichment every single day!
Rayne’s lips. I used to think chimpanzees’ upper lip was hard, like a shell. sometimes it looks that way. Consider Dora and Willy B. Smooth and rigid looking.
I still love the shriveled apple faces. reminds me of, well, ME! LOL
Hi, Paulette!
I’m guessing that those figs wouldn’t be wasted. If the chimps don’t like them. there are plenty of caregivers around! (dried fruits are more calorie dense, so they are probably on the no no list)
I loved them!Ah. Thanks for that Linda. Where I lived between one and five years old, we had fig trees in our yard. I loved them!
We had some fabulous green ones in Costa Rica with a little bit of soft cheese in the middle… maybe it was mascar pone. It was piped in. I had never heard or seen that color of fig before, and I have not seen them since. My favorites. But when we were in Spain, one of my students’ host families sent some figs from their patio to the instructor, lol
Chimpanzees in the wild usually eat figs as a fallback food, meaning it’s their source of food when their preferred food is not available. There was a fairly recent study though that showed one community in Rwanda does eat figs as their preferred food. As far as the residents here go, they seem to enjoy them. It has been a long while since they have them because they are somewhat difficult to find locally here.