Painting with Orangutans
Posted at 9:07 am May 5, 2006 by Yvette Kemp
I know I promised to tell you more about orangutan training sessions (see my previous blog, Orangutan Exercises), but here is something fun I'd like to share first!
Sometimes, coming up with enrichment ideas can be draining. You don't want to repeat yourself too much or make everything food related. And there are things you need to keep in mind when coming up with enrichment ideas, too. Is it safe for all the animals in the exhibit? Will they fight over it? Is it naturalistic? Is it something that pertains to their natural behaviors? Will the animals be able to use the item? Will the activity stimulate the animal's senses, environment, or be manipulative?
I came up with an idea several weeks ago that I thought might be fun for everyone involved. All enrichment ideas need to be approved by our nutritionist, veterinarians, supervisors, and others, depending on the activity. For this specific enrichment activity I also needed the approval of the San Diego Zoo's Operations Department. Why? Because it was going to be a little messy!
Wondering what the enrichment activity is? Well"¦ it's painting. Most of our orangutans already paint on canvases and in their rooms; my idea was to put paint on the exhibit windows so the orangutans could touch, lick, and smear the paint around.
Before the orangutans were released into their Absolutely Apes exhibit, I painted flowers and shapes on the windows. The idea was to have decorative paintings that the orangutans could either look at or alter as they wished. The orangutans were very excited about the paint. Everyone participated; even Clyde checked each drawing and dabbed in the paint. Most of the animals touched and smeared the drawings, but more than anything, they licked them. I guess you could call it lick art. It was fun to watch them investigate the paintings. Later in the day, Karen (pictured above) filled her mouth with water and squirted a couple of the windows. This dampened the paint, making it easy to smear again. Josephine then came by with a paper bag and began wiping the windows clean. I guess it was a bit too much for her.
Since it was their first encounter with the activity, only a couple of the windows were painted. Today, we decided to do it again and painted a few more windows. This time, even Cinta and Indah participated! It was fun to see all the orangutans up close and personal, showing off their artistic abilities.
Hopefully you'll be at the Zoo when the orangutans get to play with paint again. I know it won't be an activity that happens often; I wouldn't want the novelty of the experience to wear off. Plus, it's hard to be an inspired painter every day!
Yvette M. Kemp is a senior mammal keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
Watch the orangutans and siamangs daily on Ape Cam.
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May 5th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Great job Yvette . It was lots of fun to watch .
May 8th, 2006 at 1:36 am
This is hilarious; how clever! These are wonderful animals and I'm cracking up at the photos–I wonder what kind of paint you use that's both " lickable" AND aesthetically suitable!
May 8th, 2006 at 3:45 am
Sounds like so much fun Yvette. Thanks for sharing. One quick question, what was the paint made of - since the animals could lick it and it not hurt them? Was it something like a " berry" paint, made out of berries or some other fruit? Thanks again.
May 9th, 2006 at 9:29 am
In answer to questions regarding paint:
It's just non-toxic paint that washes off with water. No flavoring added. We do not want to encourage the orangutans to lick the paint, but know they will. So to keep it safe, we always use non-toxic paint with animals that have artistic talents.
As for aesthetically suitable, that all depends on how artisitic the keeper and animals are feeling that day!
February 9th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Thanks for the idea! Always searching for new enrichment ideas. We tried it with our orangs at Como Zoo last week & it worked great. We couldn't use paint so we used pureed food - pudding, peas, pumpkin, yogurt. The keepers painted a forest of Pea trees, Pumpkin sun, pudding flowers. I thought it worked well as keeper enrichment too! Didn't know we had such artistic talent. The orangs spent most of the day licking & washing the windows.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Hi, I'm doing an enrichment program with caracaras and I was planning on painting some of their enclosure. I was just wondering what brand of non toxic paint you used…I've found a few on the internet but I'm not sure which would be the most safe. Thanks!
Yvette replies: The Art & Creative Materials Institute sponsors a certification program for children's art materials, certifying that these products are non-toxic and meet voluntary standards of quality and performance. Paint with ACMI certification should be fine for your caracaras.