Oliver - One Year and Counting...
Photos by Steuart Dewar, Jane Dewar and Kelly Maneyapanda (except as indicated)
Note: almost all photographs are thumbnails that you can click to bring up a larger version!

 Jane's Latest Blog: Shut the Duck Up... (15 May 2007)

by Jane Dewar, 15 May 2007

Kelly with the ice bucket (foreground) follows Pete, as they set up for Oliver's party.

Thursday May 10th was Oliver’s first anniversary at Gorilla Haven, so naturally we had to celebrate.  Pete was party-planner for the occasion, since he was taking care of Oliver that day, as he and Kelly take turns.  We decided to do it in the coolness of the morning, so by 11 a.m. we gathered to start dressing up Oliver’s outside habitat.

Oliver prefers the shade under the platform, which is just the start of structures to be built in his habitat.

Oliver knew something was up.  We also adopted 2 six week old kittens and so I brought them up to join in the celebrations.  When they saw Oliver, both kittens shrank back into their carrier, convinced he was the biggest dog they’d ever seen!  In keeping with our tradition of naming cats after the gorillas’ favorite foods, this time we chose yogurt.  That’s Yogi on the left and Gurti on the right, in their carrier up by Emma villa, where they explored as Oliver enjoyed his party.  Later, Oliver came by to have another look at the kittens through one of the viewing windows.

By the time we opened the door, Oliver was raring to go and bolted out like a cannon ball, running past the window where I was standing, slapping it en route before stopping near his platform in a classic silverback pose – straight arms, tight lips, darting eyes and hair all puffy.  He was suspicious since Pete, Kelly and Steuart were on the viewing area on top of Emma villa and I was by the window. But soon his curiosity overtook him and he went over to the platform to have a look at the bounty.

Not to be forgotten, Joe got his own watermelon, this time decked out with peach yogurt icing.  We had some volunteers who came with us to visit Joe, and he enjoyed his special treat, making sure he licked up all the yogurt that slipped off the slices of watermelon, which I’d placed all over his villa.  Having been here over 4 years now, Joe knows where all the hiding places are, and after finding all the watermelon in the usual spots, went through and checked out all the hiding spots, clever boy that he is.

Enrichment challenges continue....

Oliver’s hair plucking seems to be lessening, but we remain on high alert, trying all sorts of enrichment ideas to keep his mind challenged and happy, until he’s able to be with other gorillas again.  A week ago I brought one of our larger dogs, a collie mix named Rosemary, up to see Oliver.  Rosie is a sweetheart and she smelled Oliver before she saw him … both Oliver and Rosie did a double take, but Rosie didn’t bark or try to run away – she just looked at me for guidance and when I sat down calmly near the safety porch, she did too.  Oliver has seen the smaller dogs before and was intrigued. With Rosie, he did a couple bluff charges at the mesh – more of a game, we thought, than aggression, since he sat down calmly and watched Rosie’s every move, after I let her off her leash to explore outside Emma villa.

The "golf table" on the left, was thanks to a great idea from Zoo Atlanta.  The middle photo shows a chimpanzee who's figured it out (chimp photo also courtesy of Zoo Atlanta's enrichment book). The 3rd photo from the left are the dipping cups, shown here empty, but to give you an idea - thanks, Columbus Zoo, for this idea!

We’re also trying new enrichment devices with ideas borrowed from other zoos, including a “golf table” and “Colo cups,” or dipping cups. The golf table has a flat surface where grapes, raisins and other treats can be placed near a hole in the center. Using a stick , the gorilla must push the treat into the hole, where it then falls down through some PVC piping and out into their cage.  Oliver hasn’t mastered this yet, although one night after leaving lots of grapes out on the table, the grapes were gone the next morning, so maybe he has figured it out and just doesn’t want to show off in front of us.  The “dipping cups” I call Colo cups, since Colo was the gorilla I saw using them at the Columbus Zoo in April. Three cups filled with honey, yogurt, peanut butter, etc, are placed in front of the gorilla cage and again, the gorilla must find a stick long enough to poke through the mesh and into the cup to get the goodies.  Colo was quite adept at this.  Oliver is learning fast.

Enrichment can be as simple as changing the way the gorillas' diets are fed. Sometimes we give the gorillas an entire watermelon, for example, and other times it's cut up and they have to look for all the pieces, etc. Sometimes food is spread on top of their cages and they have to figure out how to get it through the mesh - other times it's hidden and still other times it's served in their food baskets, etc.  In this video clip, Oliver had to 'work' at getting all the yummy granola off the ground, and if you've ever tried to get every last crumb of a yummy cake, you will relate!

Construction plods along, slowly and sometimes surely.  Peter Burvenich, who was a part time caregiver and part time maintenance staffer, has left Gorilla Haven to return to his home in Florida, and David Hall has been off of work with a back injury that keeps flaring up. Since we don’t have any “light duty” jobs at GH, this means we’re down to just the two Randy’s … and one of them has a problem with his leg and the other has a history of back trouble, so we’re literally limping along trying to get things done! And on top of that the person who runs the local company that does our steelwork was in a bad car accident and just passed away. Still, the Group Building is getting done. The steelwork for the Group Building, and the outside cagework for Bonz and Pitchou villas is all slated to start this summer, so a busy period is coming up!