With Christmas fast approaching it’s time to take a look at our animals’ behaviour over the last 12 months so we can let the big man in red know how they’ve been getting on and he can get the elves working on any deserved presents. I’ll be sure to attach their letters to Santa at the bottom if anyone wants to make their Christmas dreams come true.
Obviously we’ll be making a list, checking it twice, trying to find out who’s naughty or nice…
The Nice List
Squirrel monkeys
Frodo and Samwise are always a pleasure to visit at any time in the day, they love their food and are always very gentle and grateful when offering snacks, even if Frodo doesn’t look particularly happy here 😊.
Colobus monkeys
Ronnie, Reggie, Rupert and Roger are lovely docile boys who will shift easily and are always pleased to see you, especially if you’re bringing them jacket potatoes! Plus their coats just look gorgeous billowing around in the wind when they’re jumping around.
Molly
We have been doing lots of work with Molly recently to get her used to coming into her bedroom and training for injections and I’m pleased to say, she’s finally cracked it!
We were recently able to successfully inject Molly for some veterinary work without a hitch and she’s even still willing to come into her bedroom every morning for us, well done Molly, gold star! ⭐
EDIT: Since I began writing this blog, Molly has since been up to her old tricks of smashing windows so I am going to have to let Santa himself make the call on which list she ends up on!!
Fritz
As the alpha chimp, Fritz has always got a lot on his plate to deal with- fights, tantrums, and excitement.
Usually if the group start to kick off, Fritz will take more of a back seat but recently he has been stepping up to the plate and putting them back in their place and taking more of a dominant role.
Edgar
This little porker is a firm favourite amongst all the primate team. He is super friendly and often hitches a ride on your shoulder when cleaning his enclosure. Edgar can be a little fussy with his food and also favours cooked potato, however he is currently on a diet so banned from potato which he is a bit grumpy about. He has managed to lose 20 grams in the past couple of months though! Keep it up Edgar!!
The Naughty list
Lucas
Lucas has been acting up a bit more than usual recently and becoming increasingly stubborn to move to where his keepers need.
His current favourite thing to do is to use anything in his enclosure to make a noise (frisbees, tubs, barrels etc), push them wildly around the floor and bang loudly on as many doors and windows as he can. His latest display caused many small children to cry and so for that reason, Lucas is the first contender on my naughty list.
Georgia
Georgia needs to work on her hangar. If she is not getting fed quick enough, she will constantly spit water or saliva in her keepers faces and she has impeccable aim!
There have been numerous occasions when I’m trying to work with any other chimp and not giving Georgia the attention she often thinks she deserves and I’ve taken enough water to the face to make it look like I’ve just stepped out of the shower. Her favourite places to aim are right between the eyes or straight into the ear.
Elizabeth
Little Liz has been getting a bit too big for her boots recently and started getting a bit grabby and feisty, she may look cute but she certainly shouldn’t be taken for granted.
As young chimps learn from mimicking their elders, Liz has been copying Great Aunt Georgia and spitting at passing by keepers. If feeling particularly mischievous, she will wait for a keeper to enter the training cage area, climb on top and urinate on their heads! If you ever see keepers in there with their hoods up, that’s exactly why!
Belayan and Jin
These orang boys have made the naughty list for sheer impatience. Instead of waiting nicely for dinner, they will blow raspberries, bang around on the walls and doors, throw things and shake the shutters whilst the keepers are putting out their dinner. And when the doors are opened, not so much as a look of gratitude as they fill their faces and go off to make their nests for the night.
Jose
Wee Jose has got such a big character for such a little guy; however, he has a very short temper. He will not hesitate to attack keepers’ feet and even has a pop at those taking part in a sloth experience. He likes to climb laced up boots and try to crack them open like an old ant’s nest. It does get tiresome very quickly and Jose has earned himself many ‘time-outs’.
He has promised he’ll try better next year though when he moves to the new nocturnal house and we can stop disturbing his sleep all day.
Letters to Santa
When poised with the question, ‘what would you like Santa to bring you this year?’, most of our animals had two main requests- toys and food!
They all have a very sweet tooth for treats such as peanut butter, honey and jelly which the keepers use in different enrichment items. The animals always get super excited about new toys as well; they love things like kongs, boomer balls, dog and cat toys that you can hide foods in or even things like old cardboard boxes which the keepers have an incredible imagination for making novel things out of.
Molly has also made a special request for fleecy blankets as some of hers are getting a bit grubby and often fall foul to the wrath of an angry, hungry Jin who rips them up. And of course, we need some lovely wrapping paper to wrap all these presents up in!
I am constantly being nagged by the keepers too for presents for them, especially the ones working over the Christmas period. I think a lot of people forget this job works 365 days a year, the animals still need feeding and cleaning on Christmas Day too!
Well hopefully the animals (and keepers) will all carry on behaving or start to improve their behaviour before the 25th and earn themselves lots of extra toys and fun.
Whatever you are doing over the festive period, have a very Merry Christmas from all the Primate Team.
