Primate Care Manual
The Ultimate Resource for
Quality Care and Understanding of Primates
in Private Captive Situations
Chapter Excerpt
THE BASICS OF ENRICHMENT
After compiling some important facts about your monkey, including
age, gender, species specific behaviors, past history and ways
in which a monkey perceives its environment, you are now ready
to implement some techniques of enrichment. For example, younger
monkeys are much more active than mature ones. Don’t think
your older animal is abnormal if it doesn’t show a great
deal of activity when given access to equipment that requires
a lot of movement.
CAGE FURNISHINGS
The Housing Section as well as individual Genera Sections
goes into detail regarding special cage modifications for various
species. The ways in which a monkey naturally moves will determine
some of the furniture placed within a cage. Behavioral idiosyncrasies
of a species will also be a factor. Here is an example:
Forest Guenon species prefer lots of hiding places. By providing
isolated areas and private spaces, you are manipulating the captive
environment to mimic the natural one in a practical way. In this
case, you are recreating the visual barriers the growth of a forest
would provide. Primates adapt to captivity, but will do so successfully
only if they can move and behave in the ways they have evolved
in nature. Another illustration would be the Spider monkey. Spiders
are brachiators that move through their environment by swinging
with their arms and tail. Cage furnishings should incorporate
several opportunities to move about in this manner, like placing
a framework of bars running the roof of the enclosure. When furnishing
a cage, all dimensions of its space should be utilized--roof,
airspace, walls and floor.
Most species, even terrestrial ones, like to have
plenty of places to sit at varying heights. Shelves and perches
are an important part of providing both a sense of control and
variety. Ways to move about the cage should also be a source of
variety, by challenging a monkey’s sense of balance and coordination.
Ropes and swinging vines of various thicknesses, textures and
“give,” each require a different technique to make a
monkey think. Every time a primate comes upon a different texture
or surface, that makes it use its senses. Enrichment should be
a continuing exercise for the brain and body. It should also be
age appropriate. After all, you wouldn’t buy your grandmother
a swing set, you would buy her a rocking chair.
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