Environmental Enrichment - Squirrel Monkeys

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Primate Enrichment May 2009 - Squirrel Monkeys with a mealworm dispenser

The above picture shows our keeper, Kit Coates, hanging and filling the dispensers with mealworms. The mealworms will then fall out through the holes for the monkeys to grab or find once they have dropped to the ground.

The above picture shows one of the males trying to figure out how to get the mealworms.

The above picture shows the females actually foraging on the floor for the dropped mealworms as the male messes with the dispenser and knocks them all out.

This type of enrichment is food based and also classed as novel enrichment, as it is a novel way of feeding the mealworms. We would normally scatter the mealworms or other insects on the floor. Using such a dispenser makes the animals spend longer figuring out how to get the food and then takes them longer to forage. We use this dispenser on our tamarins, marmosets and Mongoose lemurs, as well as the meerkats, yellow mongoose and provost squirrels. It helps increase their feeding and foraging activites.

Want to Help?

A visit to the Cotswold Wildlife Park can now be even more worthwhile. By adopting an animal, you can provide a helpful contribution towards the costs of keeping and feeding the animals and supporting our conservation breeding programmes... click here for more information