News Archive

All in a Days Work!
Rebecca Spalding, Lower Section Keeper

As a keeper I am responsible for the well being of all of the animals on my section, which includes all the primate species located within the Walled Garden. My daily routine involves cleaning the enclosures and feeding the animals, which takes care of their physical well being.

However, of equal importance is keeping the animals mentally stimulated. This can be done in many ways, but probably the most important method is to provide naturalistic surroundings within the enclosures, giving the animals an opportunity to exhibit natural behaviours. A lot of time, effort and research go into the internal furnishing of every enclosure at the Park, ensuring that the animals feel secure, comfortable and have enough space or apparatus to take care of their physical and mental needs.

In the wild most animals will spend a large percentage of their time searching for food, in captivity we can attempt to reproduce this by finding novel ways of hiding their food or by encouraging them to work for their food. Any free time I have during my hectic daily schedule I dedicate to finding ways of enriching the primates in my care.

Different primate species have differing needs, some species such as the Squirrel Monkeys are incredibly curious animals, and they will spend ages investigating a new item in their enclosure, even a new perch or moving around existing enclosure furnishings can bring about a flurry of excitement. Whereas other more timid primate species need time to adapt to new changes or items, so I have to find a balance between them feeling secure and offering them new enrichment items.

One enrichment design that has proved popular with the Squirrel Monkeys and Tamarins is a wire cage filled with goodies such as browse, insects and fruit, which is then hung up in the enclosure. The animals need to work at manipulating the food items out of the cage, which requires a large amount of dexterity and patience and can keep them occupied for hours. I have adapted this design slightly for the Black and White Ruffed Lemurs, instead of a wire cage we use a hay net.

Usually the primate diet is cut into easily manageable pieces, but by occasionally offering whole fruit items we can make the simple task of eating more challenging, and by placing larger food items on the roof of the enclosure we can encourage climbing. Equally, cutting the fruit smaller and scattering it around the enclosure means the animals use more energy and time foraging for their food.

Placing food items in forage piles on the floor of the enclosures is popular with both the Lemurs and Squirrel Monkeys; the Tamarins and Marmosets are much more arboreal and tend not to spend too much time on the enclosure floors. I am currently developing new ideas for these species which include insect dispensers and hollowed out branches into which fruit can be placed.

The latest addition to my list of charges are a pair of Pygmy Marmosets; in the wild they feed on sap from trees, here we drill holes in branches and pour gum Arabic into the holes, which sets into a sap-like consistency which the Marmosets can then lap up.

We also utilise items around the Park for enrichment; for example, leaves from the Banana plants are a Lemur favourite, any other available browse is also offered, such as Bamboo, Willow, Lime, the list is endless. Herbs and wild berries are also offered; adding variety to the diet.

I never tire of coming up with new ideas. This is one primate whose job is totally enriched by the challenge of keeping her charges active and stimulated!

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