Dora

Dora greatly enjoys all of the different enrichment items given to them in the cage. She is very good at ‘fishing’ for treats. The keeper will put pieces of fruit outside of the cage and out of Dora’s arms reach. He isn’t teasing Dora though. He will then give Dora a stick and she will use the stick to retrieve the piece of food. She knows exactly which way to hold the stick and which angle to push the food to bring it towards her. To challenge Dora further, the keeper will provide more difficult fishing tasks such as a whole tomato. Being round, if Dora is not careful the tomato will roll away and off the platform if she does not plan her fishing carefully. As the toughest challenge, corn kernals will be provided for fishing. These take the longest to retrieve but Dora will fish for every last one. Other enrichment provided includes food treats hidden in hanging balls and stuffed into lengths of fire hose with leaves. Enrichment like this keeps Dora and the other orangutans busy and prevents boredom which is very important.

Dora still loves going out to forest school with Jecky Chan. They explore and forage in the canopy and then have rest during the hottest part of the day. She still needs to improve her nest building but she is doing very well overall with her forest skills.