Each evening, before leaving for the day, we prepare some sort of puzzle or activity for the chimps to work on. There are a variety of ideas that we rotate throughout the month, including KONGs, Boomer balls, drink buckets and pine cones, to name a few. So, I thought I’d share a few of these on the blog today.
KONGs
We add nuts or a mixture of mashed bananas or avocados into the open holes for the chimps to figure out how to get out.
Missy
Boomer Balls
We place peanuts inside the balls and the chimps have to shake and move the balls to get at the nuts inside. Some of the chimps use chopsticks as tools to get the nuts out. In the following photos, Foxie used her finger to help get at the peanuts inside.
Foxie
Kebabs
We skewer small food pieces (grapes are a favorite) inside of paper rolls and tie the “kebabs” to the outside of the caging. Below Burrito demonstrates how to hold onto the caging and use his fingers to try to pull the paper rolls inside.
Burrito
Pine cones
Add a few raisins in toward the center of the cone and smear peanut butter along the outside and voila, a pretty special treat that keeps the chimps busy for quite a while.
Annie
Negra
Jamie
Treat Buckets
There are a variety of options when using buckets as enrichment. Sometimes we fill the buckets with water, adding lemons or limes for some flavor and give the chimps long plastic straws to drink from. Other times we place seeds and nuts inside the buckets and the chimps have to knock the buckets over and use a tool to “sweep” the seeds toward them. Below, Annie demonstrates how to drink the flavored water from the bucket that was placed outside of the caging.
Annie
Raisin Boards
Jamie demonstrates how to use a chopstick to push raisins through the holes in this hanging raisin board.
