We provide for all of the animals' needs: food, water, shelter, and space. However, just like some of us, if we are given everything we need, we might just sit there and let the staff do everything for us. This is going to result in a lack of mental and physical health. That is why we engage in a documented regiment of enrichment. By combining new smells and treats with the understanding of the animals individual adaptations, we are able to stimulate the animals' curiosity (mental stimulation) and by placing the items in, under, just out of reach, and in food puzzles (physical stimulation), we are able to stimulate the animal . On this occasion, the children that visited the zoo had the chance to help create some of this enrichment.
A few days before the animals Thanksgiving, I was able to go with Memorial Park staff and the Athens Community Council on Aging to the DeKalb Farmer's Market. My goal was to drive the bus safely there and back, and to find new and interesting fruits and vegetables for our program. There were plenty of items that I had no idea what they were. The enrichment also helped me. The items included: Jackfruit, Durian fruit, Star apples, Kiwi, Pummelo, Guava, Buddha’s hands, Peppermint (the plant), yucca, rutabaga, sugarcane, and water okra.
After stuffing some pumpkins with some of the animals' more normal treats, we cut up the new fruit and vegetables. Everyone had a chance to see and smell the new fruits and veggies. For those that were there, they will not forget the smell of the Durian fruit. Even if the kids and animals didn’t like some of the items (the Durian) and loved others (the sugarcane), the new and strange smells and textures stimulated the participants.
We would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Remember- enrich your life… Hide all of the components to your Thanksgiving dinner around the house and yard….. Or, just visit the Zoo or other wild places soon.
Posted by Clint
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