Enhanced Enrichment

I applaud the apprentices who were here this past summer for their productive creativity. They produced various enhanced enrichment for the chimpanzees that were very well themed. Some of these included cocoon day, theater day, pirate day, Truman Capote day, camping day, dream day, Diamondback day, and even more. Some really unique ones included NASA day and Under the Sea day. One particular apprentice went above and beyond to make NASA day occur, buying numerous space toys and creating her own laminates including a laminated book of pictures. She even created her own space ship and rockets from cardboard.

Under the Sea day was collaboration between a few students who created enhanced enrichment in the chimps night enclosure. Besides cardboard cutout fish, plastic blow-up orcas, and creatively constructed sea creatures, there were glow-in-the-dark plastic pieces hung just outside the kitchen to give a nice ambiance to the enclosure.

 

Just after the apprentices left, another much-awaited enrichment day occurred, Moo Cow Day. Paper mache cows were constructed along with a barn and numerous cow related laminates, a calendar, pillows, and stuffed animals. Dinner was also themed. Two students, who were actually vegans and have never cooked meat before, prepared hamburgers for the chimps. This followed with a healthy serving of milk (well, soymilk, but close enough).

Overall, the summer was a great success with interesting and fun filled enrichment days that will be great examples for upcoming students.