A Happy Mother's Day to all. If any of our primates could understand the concept of a public holiday such as this it would be our spider monkeys, which are ranked the third most intelligent non human primate species only surpassed by orang-utan's and chimpanzees. Being highly intelligent, spider monkey's development time can be up to 8 years and mother's are very attentive and caring towards their young. Baby spider monkeys are often found clinging to onto their mothers back when moving through the tree tops up until they are one year old. Our baby Black Headed Spider Monkey (Ateles fusciceps) 'Millie' is two years old now but still very much enjoys a hug with mother 'Ellie':
Photo taken 01.04.2011
Cat Enrichment
Meanwhile on the cat team we have been seeing the reactions of our different cats to the sight of their food being lowered down from the sky. We have a large fishing rod that we can feed our cats with by lowering down a piece of meat up and over the enclosure fences and since bringing it out recently to utilize as another form of enrichment, we have had a few confused looks from our cats as to what is going on. We have been first testing the novel feeding method with our young lion Casper and after initially looking at the hovering meat in wonder and amazment, he now thoroughly enjoys the added stimulus of having to catch his moving food. Today we tested the method with one of our tigers 'Rajiv'. It was great to see his train of thought towards this and for the first go at it today he decided he didnt want to exert too much energy and stand up to get his food instead just to chomp his jaws together as the food went past his mouth. He got his reward with this more relaxed style today but once he gets used to the idea of his meat decending to the skies, we hope to see him getting more excited and keen to 'catch' the food like Casper now has. It's great exercise for the cats and an oppourtunity for them to use their cat like reaction skills and agility.
Photo of the Day:
Our lioness 'Nahla' is one of our most lovable cats and the affection and sweetness often seen in her eyes means it is easy to interpret her as an over-grown family house cat. Here she demonstrates her other side as she lets a cardboard box that contains a few meat trinkets inside know that it's time on this planet is about to come to an end in a hurry as the claws and teeth come out to begin the shredding process...
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