W2B-021 Zoo - Environment-2.txt
BELFAST ZOO CHIMPS DEVELOP NEW TECHNIQUE IN TERMITE FISHING

One of the finishing touches to Belfasts Zoo's million pound award-winning Primate Enclosure built in 1991 to house some of its star attractions, a colony of chimps and a family of gorillas, was an artificially created termite mound.

Situated in the Chimpanzee House, the termite mound is designed to provide intellectual stimulation for the chimps and is similar to those found in the wild, with one exception; as termites are fairly difficult to come by, the zoo has substituted different types of jam. The idea is that the chimps dip sticks into the holds in the mound to reach the jam at the other end.

Recently, however, primate keeper, Alyn Cairns has noticed that the clever chimps have devised a more effective method of jam fishing. They have discovered that chewing on the ends of the sticks to make them more brush-like and absorbent means that they can scoop up more jam!
