Jimmys Farm Team build - Lemur Enclosure Timelapse
A few days back we shared a video of a team build at Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife ParkWe shared a video of a team build at Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park a few days back, showing the build come to life. We thought you might like to see the timelapse from the build where you can see it all come together. From creating the platforms, building the firehose hammocks, and installing them all on the poles to linking it all together with the existing structures with firehose. It was great to transform this area of the enclosure, and the team did a fantastic job!
#Enrichment #Teambuilding #CSREvent #CSR
Twycross Zoo Gorilla Enclosure Walk Around
A giant spider web, built-in firehose hammocks, multiple platforms and visual barriers, floating platforms, ladders and feeding stations, roping, solid climbing structures and moving climbing structures. These are just some of the things that were built into the gorilla design at Twycross Zoo.
Why did we design it like this? The layout of our usable area in the enclosure provided us with an interesting challenge. Staying 5 meters away from the building and 8 meters away from the public barrier gave us a back-to-front '6', meaning we had a round area with a long thin area at the top. We eventually settles on the design on four main structures, all joined together with a lot of 'stuff', all designed with the gorilla family in mind. For the oldies, there are lots of resting areas and easy to access climbing places. For the younger, or those more willing to climb, there are plenty of high areas. And for those that simply want some peace and quiet, there are many visual barriers all around where they can get away from it all.
We love the design and how it makes the most of the space available, and we have had fantastic feedback from the keepers, colleagues in other collections, and most importantly the gorillas themselves. We've also had the usual "it's very busy", and our reply as always, it's built for the animals, not you ;-)
Thanks again to the team at Twycross, we had a great time working on this project, and it was a pleasure working with you all.
#Enrichment
Vlog 3 - Week 3 of the build - Mud, diggers, and a whole new enclosure
Week three of the Hadlow build has had us making a great start to the second enclosure of the Hadlow build. Because it will house a digging species, we've had the digger on site creating a deep channel to sink the mesh into the ground, erect the poles and get it all braced with the top framework.
We've completed the fence separating the enclosure from the goats and started on the safety porch, the front of enclosure 1, and the public stand-off barrier. It's been a challenging week, but the progress has been amazing. Fingers crossed for no wind next week so we can finish the roof of enclosure 1!
Join Chris as he shows you all the progress so far in Vlog 3 of the Hadlow College build.
#Enrichment
Lemur Enclosure Makeover - Team Build at Jimmys Farm
Towards the end of summer, we were joined by a group at Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park for a Team Build. As part of our information-gathering process, the group has asked to work outside, which led to us working in the lemur enclosure creating furniture in an unused area of the exhibit. We had a fantastic time, and the group did a great job building platforms, firehose hammocks, and joining everything together with more firehose, including onto the existing structures to link it all together.
And then it was time to let the lemurs out to give it their approval, and they explored everything!
A huge well done to the team for doing such a fantastic job, it was great working with you all.
#Teambuilding #teambuild #lemur #CSR #CSRevent
Hadlow Enclosure Build - Vlog 2 - The Roof is Complete!
After just 8 days the framework on Enclosure Number 1 is complete, putting us in a fantastic place for this week's work and everything that needs to be done.
Join Chris as he takes you for a walkthrough of the progress so far, along with some beautiful drone shots of the construction.
Primate T-Feeders - Team Build at Jimmy's Farm
We have built these awesome T-Feeders in the past for the primates at Woburn, so when we were asked to make them for the macaques at Jimmy's Farm & Wildlife Park it was our chance to upgrade them slightly. Macaques can be quite destructive, so some stronger materials were needed to build them compared to the lightweight first version.
The feeders are suspended from different areas in the enclosure. The whole device can rotate on a swivel, and the individual mesh cubes can also rotate. The idea is that it makes the primates work harder for their food, as well as extending the time searching and obtaining food.
Over the course of the two-hour team build the group built many of these feeders, and as expected, the devices worked great with the macaques, and will also be tested with other species. A huge well done to the group, it was a great build!
#Enrichment #teambuilding #CSR #CSREvent #teambuildingactivities
Tiger climbing structure and feeders - Walk through of the Blackpool Zoo build
At the end of the summer we had a great time constructing the new climbing and feeding structure for the tigers at Blackpool Zoo. Over a five-day period we used natural poles to build the multi-level structure, using one of the large poles already in the exhibit as the anchor to take everything from. The structure has four levels, with a tilt feeder built directly into it, and we even built a high-wire feeder for the cats to feed from. It is built in such a way that it offers plenty of sun, shade and privacy, while also being on show to the public.
We loved the way it turned out, and using the natural poles gave it a fantastic look, and it smelled great during construction.
Hadlow Enclosure Build Vlog 1 - The framework starts
Join us on a new video series as we spend the next few weeks creating two new large enclosures at Hadlow College. In Vlog 1 we'll take a look at what has happened over the first four days as we make a start on the framework of enclosure 1, and an overview of what the project will look like over the coming weeks.
Meerkat ball-pit, enrichment team build at Yorkshire Wildlife Park
When we had a team-building group create the awesome encounter bench at Yorkshire Wildlife Park , the plan was always that future groups could build different feeding devices to go in them. Fast-forward a couple of months, and another awesome group created four extra feeders. The encounter bench has two areas where the feeders can simply lift out of, and another feeder then drops into the space, making it very easy to change the devices around.
The new feeders were two broom head dig boxes, where the lid is opened, food is spread into the broom heads, and then the meerkats have to dig through the holes in the box to get the food.
The second design was a new prototype, with balls put under a clear surface. Polycarbonate has several holes cut into it, and the meerkats have to reach through the holes and move the balls about to reach the food. The polycarbonate can easily be removed for cleaning by simply rotating the four thumb-tacks.
In the wild, meerkats spend a lot of time foraging for food and can move a lot of soil to find a single piece of food. So, it is very important that they work for their food in a captive environment to keep up these food-finding skills and keep them healthy and in shape.
A massive thank you to the team for joining us, you all did an amazing job at building these feeders.
#enrichment #teambuilding #teambuild #CSREvent #CSR
Yorkshire Wildlife Park Lion steps timelapse
On Monday we uploaded a video of the lion-steps being tested by the lions, but it's also great to see the process of the build. Check out this awesome timelapse of everything coming together over the half-day build at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Tapir angel feeder - Team Build at Knowsley Safari Park
In the summer we ran our first team build at Knowsley Safari, creating two Angel-Feeders for the tapir and vicuña at the park. It was a different one for us, with the building taking place in the old elephant house which was a really unique place to host this event.
During the half-day build, the group was split into two teams, each making an angel feeder. The device is designed to allow feeding at different heights, with the arms able to be put in three different positions. The entire device can then rotate on the lazy Susan.
Thank you to the team for joining us, you did an amazing job creating these feeders. And a huge thank you to the keeper team for your time on the day.
#Teambuilding #enrichment #teambuild #CSREvent #CSR
