ZOO NEGARA DECEMBER 2008

Orangutan Experience
Volunteers:
Leigh Bates
Keely Adams
Martin Craswell

This month we had an all English team at Zoo Negara, comprising three very hardworking volunteers. Despite the hot weather, the group worked hard on cleaning activities to make up for their small number, but were experts at scrubbing and raking by the end of the two weeks!

Enrichment Activities

Leaves: The volunteers helped to collect leaves as often as possible to enable the orangutans to display their natural nesting behaviours and as an addition to their diet.
Piñatas: We once again made piñatas, both using newspaper and pieces of hessian sack. We filled these with leaves and a few seeds wrapped tightly in paper. The hessian worked well but did not dry very quickly so if we try this again we will have to bring in hairdryers to do the job a bit faster. The paper mache piñatas worked really well, encouraging big male Awang to climb to the top of his enclosure and get some much needed exercise!
Watermelon juice: A real favourite of the apes we mashed up watermelon to make nice refreshing juice for them.
Blended banana and papaya smoothies: The gift of a blender from last months group was well using in taking some of the bananas and papayas from the daily food allowance and making it into a juice. The apes were then given straws to try and get the juice from a jug held outside of the cage.
Box treats: Utilising cocoa and star fruit found around the zoo we made box treats for the orangutans and chimps. This time we added a twist by filling the box with brightly coloured shredded paper. Although the chimps did not react to the colours, Awang the orang-utan was fascinated (left), showing more interest in the paper than the treats hidden inside. After unpacking his box he gathered up all the paper and spent hours putting it into piles and packing and re-packing his box. For the very first time I actually saw him “smile” which was wonderful!
Marmite challenge: Taking inspiration from Ili at Zoo Taiping, we ran a taste test to see whether apes love or hate marmite! Like their human relatives, we found a mixed response with some of them eating their marmite rice really slowly savouring every grain. Rambo the chimp showed the most amusing reaction backing away from his portion and looking at us like we were insane when we demonstrated eating this strange food!
Lepat nasi: We made sticky rice parcels wrapped in banana leaves to give to the apes as a special treat.
Dragon Fruits: To add variety to the apes’ diet we bought dragon fruits to the ape centre, giving some of them whole and some cut into pieces.
Bubbles and mirrors: The volunteers were provided with non-toxic bubbles and mirrors to use during playtime with the apes.
Christmas presents: As a festive treat we got Christmas presents for all the apes which the volunteers wrapped up in Christmas paper. Punkey, Chokey and Anna were all given hats, Katie got a bright pink t-shirt and the rest were all given football socks stuffed with paper and sunflower seeds!

Construction
At the keepers request we set to work making another feeder tube for the front exhibit (Awang and Manja). Using drain pipes and end caps we made the tube and hung it on the outside of the bars to the side of the exhibit. We held our breath as Awang put his huge fingers through the bars and squeezed the pipe, which it withstood, but sadly when he pushed down on it he managed to break the point at which we had wired it to the bars, so next month we will have to rethink the design a bit and try again. The first pipe we made has been put to great use and is especially good for keeping Katie occupied (above) for long periods of time by putting a small amount of semi-cooked oats, mashed banana and raisin mix into the bottom of some (but not all!) of the tubes. She then sets to work making various tools to extract the sticky food.

Around the zoo:


This month we were visited by staff from Zoo Johor (who received our male Bornean Abu on a breeding loan last month). They wanted us to show them how to make a fire hose hammock to enrich Abu’s environment in his new home. Apparently he is doing very well and sounds much more active and happy at Johor than he was with his limited space at Zoo Negara.