Blog Archive

Getting Puspa on display has been a bit slower than we would have anticipated. Since the Siamangs moved in late February, we have been offering Puspa opportunities to go out on exhibit if she chooses. At the moment though, she is taking it slowly and is not yet confident spending long amounts of time in the exhibit. This will change over time as she feels more and more comfortable exploring the new area.

At the moment, we allow Puspa to come back into the building to her bedroom areas when she decides to. By taking it at her own pace, we are ensuring that we can keep building on all the positive experiences Puspa is having… As the old saying goes, slow and steady wins the race.

But don’t worry, we are certainly keeping Puspa happy when she is inside during the day. We have discovered she is a budding artist - Puspa seems to love to paint.

Many zoos give their great apes paint and paper as enrichment. Just the other day we decided to give this a try with Puspa. Not so much painting took place on the paper but she did have a wonderful time, painting the walls of her bedroom and the food chutes. It was amazing to watch how focused she was while painting and how deliberate she was when picking which colour to paint with next…. 

And just in case you’re wondering, all the paints we use with Puspa are childrens' non-toxic, wash off in water, paints!!

Jodie
Orangutan Keeper, Adelaide Zoo