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News for the month of January 2003

The Lemurs Go On Vacation - Environmental Enrichment

Well, I sincerely hope that everyone had a great New Year! This month David and I started preparing to send some of the lemurs on vacation. As a form of "Environmental Enrichment," and to give our audiences something new to look at, David and I periodically switch animals around from one habitat to another. This month we started to prepare the new Ring-tail Lemur troop and the group of Red Ruffed Lemurs for a switch, or as Dave and me like to call it, ?Sending Them on Vacation?. As many of you have observed, we have been spending allot of time redecorating both habitats with new plants, ropes, ground cover, logs, and bamboo in preparation of the switch at the end of the month.

Once both habitats were ready, we spent the day creating up both the Red Ruffed lemurs, the Brown Lemurs and the Ring-tails. Trust me, mush easier said then done. After hours of this we finally were ready for the switch. Everything went great! Once released into their new habitats the lemurs went nuts with excitement, running and bouncing around exploring every inch of their new environments. For the next week all the lemurs were so busy re-scent marking their territories. This is one of the best forms of enrichment, keeping a captive animal busy and mentally stimulated is the goal of all respected wildlife caregivers, and one of our primary tasks.

I myself, spend hours on cam watching the behaviors of these remarkable animals. The Ring-tails in particular have such a great political social structure. Remember, lemurs are FEMALE DOMINANT! Since this group consists of numerous animals, it makes watching the politics and social dynamics even more interesting. Another great aspect to pay attention to is the inter-species interactions. Watch how the Ring-tails interact with the trio of female Brown Lemurs sharing their habitat. Then watch how all the lemurs interact with the large Green Iguanas. I always find these interactions highly interesting as well as entertaining.

There is so much to observe if you just know how to look! After your done pinching yourself in disbelieve of how fortunate you are to observe lions, tigers and lemurs on cam as if you were actually accepted into their lives; try to look deeper into the way they live, into their intelligence, and into their social structure. For example, yesterday I was observing the Ring-tails and Brown lemurs on camera 3 problem solving how to pick the tender new leaves from the tops of the thin limber bamboo stalks. The bamboo was about 8 feet tall with thin columns and lateral branches that could not support the lemurs? weight to climb. The tops of each branch contained highly tasty new budding leaves that the lemurs absolutely adore. After numerous clumsy attempts to climb the bamboo only to have it bend with the lemurs falling off, Kicker the adult male Ring-tail figured it out. I observed Kicker taking a running jump from a nearby boulder, hurling himself high on top of the limber branches, grasping as many new leaves as possible before landing on the ground. Shortly after this, all of the other lemurs (including the brown lemurs) started copying Kicker?s feeding behavior. Some times the most remarkable things happen right in front of you. The trick is having both your eyes and mind open to what you are seeing! In that brief 20-minute span, I was fortunate enough to observe the problem solving and learning capabilities of one of the most endangered primates on earth. This is just one of a gazillion observations one can make while viewing the cams. David and I invite you into the lives of the Sanctuary?s residents. Hoping to create a need and desire to learn about and to protect wildlife as well as their habitats.

Please get involved and expose your children to the amazing co-inhabitants of the planet. As always, keep on visiting, watching and learning. Your support of the Sanctuary threw your purchase and donations from our Gift Shop are greatly appreciated.

Remember, there are many ways to help the cause. Here are a few.

1) Tell everyone you know about the website. By increasing the number of visitors, we increase the awareness of the danger these wonderful creatures face.
2) If you have a website, link to us - http://www.tigerhomes.org/
3) Submit our site http://www.tigerhomes.org/ to any webcam sites you may visit.
4) Make a donation to the sanctuary. There is an area on the gift shop for those who want to contribute.
5) Purchase items from the gift shop. They make great gifts and are for a worthy cause.
6) Adopt a pet. It's a great way to virtually own one of the sanctuary animals.

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Remember, our main mission is to spread an interest in saving wild animals and wild places but we can't do it alone.

Story by: Jason and David