Last week we were fortunate enough to take a selection of children over to Hethfelton House near Monkey World. This is a charity that has been providing enrichment days for schools/colleges to go and learn about the Primates in regard to many respects.

We were lucky enough to have a couple of talks by Cat Talbot which looked at being a Primate Keeper and all the jobs they have to do throughout the day. It would seem it involves a lot of cleaning and food preparation with monkeys being fed up to 8 times a day. The second talk was about the different types of communication primates use. There were a surprising number of different types of calls. Some of them were rather interesting and some very comical. It certainly kept the students interested and many went home and talked extensively about it to their parents. So a thoroughly worthwhile experience. 

Interspersed throughout the day, we were also fortunate enough to make some enrichment toys for the Primates. These ranged from preparing piñatas and then filling ones that a previous group had made with tasty snacks. We also had the opportunity to make willow snack baskets for Capuchin monkeys and Gibbons. Finally, we put together a multitude of lush boxes and cable tied these together once filled with treats for the Chimps and other primates.  

A huge thank you to Cat and the team at Hethfelton house. The students had a fabulous day, as did the staff. We hope the Primates enjoyed the toys, and we hope to see you again soon.

Thanks

 Miss Hamblin