How This Genius Ape Destroyed an "Unbreakable" Puzzle | Monkey Life Season 18 Episode 18

Today on Monkey Life, the large playroom at the Orangutan Nursery is a hit with youngsters Kiwi and Saebu, although one's a bit more confident than the other. When we first let him through he really tries to keep up with her but she's off and he just he can't. He doesn't seem to have a lot of concept about danger or where his feet is or where the big drop is. Chimp Klyn gets a manicure for safety rather than appearance. It's quite important for her nails to be cut because with these guys they can potentially hurt each other with their nails. And Orangutan Kayan takes a giant ice lolly for a spin. Monkey World in Dorset, buried deep in the English countryside, is the largest sanctuary of its kind on the planet. The team, led by Dr Alison Cronin, rescue and rehabilitate abused and unwanted primates from all over the world. You just never know how it's gonna work. The park provides a home for more than 250 primates from 24 different species. It's been all systems go at the Orangutan Nursery, where the primate care staff have been busy in the main playroom. They've stripped down all the hosing, hammocks and drop downs and given the whole area a major update. The new design has the older full-time residents in mind as well as being suitable for youngsters Saibu and Kiwi, who are about to take the next step in their journey. It's a massive space. It's far bigger than anything that they've had before, not only in diameter but also in height as well. So we have to consider that and you know really watch them and make sure that they have got a really good grip on whatever they're holding on. We've got lots of things in here like big blankets you know so that we can sort of be underneath them just in case they fall, which their grip is really really good and there's no reason why they should but we just like to cover all bases just to make sure that they're safe. There's been lots to consider when kitting out the playroom as although it needs to be safe for the babies, it's also the domain of the older orangutans who still need to use and enjoy it. For Kiwi and Saibu this red hosing is obviously very different. They do have some in their room at the moment but they do rely more heavily on the smaller black hosing but we can't use that for the older animals. So for now we've added some extra rope toys and things in. They're easily removable so when we let the main group in we can take them out so they don't destroy them but it just gave them that little bit of confidence coming out. So it's trying to push them and encourage them to develop their strength and their core muscles and their desire to explore as well but also it needs to be manageable for them as well. So at the beginning a little bit of extra support to encourage them and help them and then gradually we'll draw that back as they experience it a little bit more. Kiwi and Saibu have already had a couple of successful supervised sessions in the large playroom. While they prepare to go back in the older orangutans are outside in the tunnels waiting to go into the outdoor enclosure. Toby and the team have prepared a cooling treat to keep them occupied outside while the two youngsters explore inside. So today we've got a giant ice lolly which made in sort of a big black bin so it's a huge lolly for them to hopefully keep them nice and cool. It's very warm today. The biggest challenge we face with any of the orangutans is securing anything in the enclosure so they can't basically turn it into some sort of destructive weapon. They can't throw it around. So yeah it's been a bit of a challenge finding a place we can hang it. Obviously it's very heavy so just making sure that it's thoroughly secure and then we have to bolt everything into place with these guys because they are so naturally strong that they can undo things, break things, pull things apart. So yeah everything has to be double and triple tested before we let them loose on it. Frozen inside the ice is a cocktail of treats including seeds, nuts, blueberries and grapes. The team have also placed smaller lollies around the enclosure so everyone will get a chance to enjoy the cooling treat. Sharing can be a bit hit and miss with these guys sometimes. Depends what mood they're in but hopefully we'll get a lot of interaction between them all and them all taking turns. It's a massive lolly so there's plenty to go around for everyone. It should keep them busy for several hours until either a they eat it all or be it melts, whichever comes first. The group race down the tunnel. Hujan and Rika immediately spot the smaller ice lollies and grab some on the go. Oshin sticks to ground level where there are easy pickings that don't involve having to climb or exert herself. Everyone seems happy with the smaller ice lollies but not Kayan. She's the youngest of the five in this group and extremely bright. It looks as if she's worked out that there's fruit encased in the giant ice lolly and is determined to break it open. The 50 kilo lump of ice is attached to thick hosing. Clever Kayan twists the entire thing round and round. Bulu is an interested observer as Kayan exerts tension on the hose and manages to break off some of the ice. So Kayan seems to have discovered that if she spins the hosing round and uses the leverage she can break the lolly off the piece of hosing. She's getting big chunks off it. She's a very smart girl and she's obviously worked out a technique to help her get the bits of the lolly off. Kayan is on a mission to bring down the giant ice lolly and she does. It's still attached but it's landed on the ground making it easier to manage. I think there's always stuff going on in Kayan's brain. She's always busy even if it doesn't look like what she's doing is productive. In her mind it is but yeah this is very very clever. She's sort of definitely found a technique out and she's got that whole big lolly to herself at the moment. Kayan goes a step further using a stick as a tool to pry the blueberries and nuts out. Bulu studies her technique from above but goes for a less subtle approach demonstrating his strength by lifting the whole thing up while he's upside down. He playfully pulls it back towards him before dropping it to the ground. Kayan brings it to a stop then settles down to eat her well-earned supply of lolly shards. Meanwhile back in the large playroom Saebu and Kiwi are about to be let loose. Hello got some snacks today. Saebu is first out into the new area which will challenge them mentally and physically. Good boy. Kiwi soon follows clambering all over Saebu in her haste to get up high. Hello good girl. She's a lot more confident than her younger companion and the seven month age gap shows as Kiwi moves around the top of the playroom. We've definitely got to keep a very close eye on both of them, more so Saebu at the moment just because he's a bit less sure on his feet. He's a bit all fingers and thumbs and he doesn't seem to have a lot of concept about danger or where his feet is or where the big drop is. Quite often when we first let them through he really tries to keep up with her but she's off and he just he can't. But he you do see he does watch her to see where she's going and that sort of encourages him a little bit as well. But yeah it's really nice to see they're really close together. At night they still share a hammock together and snuggle up and it's really nice to see. The sessions will be fully supervised until the team are confident the pair can cope on their own in such a large space. Only then will they consider the possibility of Saebu and Kiwi starting to meet some of the older nursery gang. They're still outside congregating around the giant ice lolly successfully brought to the ground by Kayan. It's so big they can all tuck in at the same time sharing the treat and using sticks to get to the fruit. When Saebu and Kiwi finally join the group they'll become part of the family and learn from the older members. At Bart's Pavilion primate care staff member Rhiannon is on a mission to find Clynn, one of the females in the group. It's time for her regular nail session. Clynn? She is a real character. She is a very independent lady in many ways. She knows what she wants and what she wants to do so you'll quite often see her ambling around the enclosure doing her own thing. But she does also have really good relationships with the other chimps in the group. She's, I would say, quite a charismatic animal. She's also quite eccentric. Clynn has her funny little ways, things that she does and she's quite happy to just be herself and the rest of the group seem to accept her as that way. So yeah, she's a real character. Here she comes. Right. Clynn has made her way to the tunnel where Rhiannon can give her a manicure. She's been training the chimp over the last few months to allow her nails to be filed. We'll give her a little drink to say thank you for coming over. Good job. Chimpanzees' nails are extremely tough and can inflict serious damage if used in an act of aggression or by accident in play. The team check each individual regularly. It's quite important for her nails to be cut because with these guys they can potentially hurt each other with their nails. They're very strong and thick and, you know, when they get in a little bit of a scuffle or have a little bit of an argument, sometimes they will swipe their hands forwards. Obviously, Clynn's blind in one eye anyway so it's just to keep them from harming each other as well really. There's lots of interested observers on hand as the manicure gets underway. So obviously with these ones it's quite time consuming because it's just a normal nail file but if you do it as regularly it does keep it down to a certain level because she has a habit of getting quite long nails, particularly this one here starts to grow in. So we were focusing on that one quite a lot to start with. Good girl, good girl. So I'm focusing on this hand because that's the worst of the two. So we just give Bart a little drink to say thank you for letting Clynn get her nails done. Most of the park's primates have been trained in a number of behaviours which can be worked on and developed if needed. Rhiannon is currently the only member of staff looking after Clynn's nails. Once the chimp is fully cooperative other members of the team will also be able to take on the job. Clynn did not like her hands being touched for any length of time at all when I first started doing this. She was quite sensitive about it. She didn't like it so getting to this point has taken a while. Now she's learned that nothing, no harm comes from it. She's doing very well. So the next stage is with the electric nail file which is this one. She's quite scared of it. She doesn't like the noise that it makes. It makes a buzzing noise and it also vibrates the feeling on her fingers. So that is the next stage. Whenever I do her nails normally like this I always bring this so she's used to seeing it around. I've also turned it on around her as well just so she's aware of the noise that it makes. Once the session is over and there's no more rewards on offer, Clynn and her companions return to the enclosure. Her next appointment in the diary will be in a week's time. It's been a couple of months since elderly female golden-cheeked gibbon Alex underwent dental surgery to remove a broken canine. Since then the transformation has been remarkable. Once that tooth was out her appetite was back and better than ever. She was literally eating anything and everything in her diet which was absolutely great. She put on a little bit of weight which was again really good and yeah we haven't had, we haven't seen any issues, touch wood, with her teeth anymore which is great. Alex had a traumatic early life. She's been at the park for nearly 25 years having been confiscated from the illegal pet trade in Taiwan and is thought to be about 38 years old. She lost an arm in an accident while playing with another gibbon but recovered well and remained healthy and active until a few years ago when she was found to be diabetic. Since then Alex has been on daily medication to control the condition but earlier in the year she suffered a couple of hypoglycemic episodes. Her blood glucose dropped to dangerously low levels so the team had to come up with a plan. To avoid a repeat they started taking her blood glucose readings twice a day which requires getting a tiny sample of blood each time. Sarah is about to take the make sure Alex will be okay overnight. First a tiny prick on her foot to get a drop of blood then a blood glucose reader to obtain an accurate result. 7.5. Good job sweetheart. Good job. That was really good yeah she was really good. She was like have the foot before I even asked for it. So I just tested her blood with our special bg reader in a diabetic. I've been training her for a few months now to present her foot. Good girl, good girl. Thank you sweetheart and then I'm allowed yeah we're able to get a reading from her and we can do it now twice a day so it helps us build a picture of what she is in the morning and then what she is in the afternoon. So for us to manage her diabetes a lot more effectively this process of testing her twice a day and we're able to alter her diet accordingly and give her extras if she needs it. Good girl. Alex has been living with Tito for the past few years although they're not the closest of couples they get on well enough. However Alex's diabetic condition requires a special diet which Tito has to share. He has to be on the on the same diet she is. We do split them off throughout the day so that Tito can have extra extra bits to bump his calories up but the new the bg training and testing is relatively new it's only this last year that we've managed to really get a good picture of what she's looking like and now we can monitor her and monitor her diabetes a lot closer and a lot more effectively and without sort of wandering around in the dark guessing you know is she low is she high etc based on her urine samples and how much water she drinks which is how we were managing her before. Now we're actually getting a much more accurate reading. All the hard work and patience put in by the primate care staff has paid off although Sarah is first to admit Alex is a model patient. She's she's a clever girl she doesn't have to come over if she doesn't want to but you know back scratches and high value rewards what's not to love right? Good girl good girl. The park is home to two patas monkeys a predominantly ground dwelling primate found in the grass and scrubland regions of western central Africa. Mr P and Penelope arrived from Borth Zoo four years ago. Today primate care staff member Leah is providing them with a treat to encourage them to move around but she's had to come up with an idea suitable for Penelope who has a number of health issues. We've got chickpea that's blended just to make it easier for Penelope because she's got no teeth so it has to be soft and easy to eat. We've got some raisins, we've got some mealworms, waxworms, some honey. She's got a cataract in one of her eyes so when we do put things out we make sure that they're big enough they're visible for her to see. Despite the problems with her vision Penelope is able to navigate the tunnel and the entrance to the caged enclosure but Mr P is a lot younger quicker and more agile and tends to get to the food first. Today's treats have been smeared on large round discs some of which are suspended and move around in order to make it a little bit trickier for the two patas monkeys. Mr P already has the challenge licked but while he's distracted Penelope moves in on a disc on the other side of the enclosure and she seems to be enjoying her selection. The female had to have all her teeth removed last year because they were rotten. Now her gums have hardened over and she's without pain Penelope's appetite has returned. She's in her twilight years but Mr P being a few years younger is still energetic and enjoying life. Alison has a possible plan for the future of patas monkeys at the park. She's been contacted about a lone female patas currently living in the Canary Islands and in need of a new home. I'm just really worried because Penelope her health really isn't that great it's nothing terrible but Penelope is really showing her age and Mr P actually still has quite a nice spring in his step so I'm trying to future proof Mr P being on his own by considering this other female but everybody has to pass their health checks before we move ahead. A new patas monkey isn't the only new addition in the pipeline at the park. I'm working on potentially bringing in two unwanted somewhat almost geriatric 25 year old stump tail macaques which you know our guys are getting old um and life isn't very exciting or interesting so for the sake of Sylvie, Toto and Fred it'll be a bit disruptive but I think it will actually bring something to their life. And there's another candidate for residency at the park. A chimpanzee in South America needing companionship of his own kind. Toady is a lone male chimp living at a private house in the middle of Patagonia so the weather's not very good and ideal and he is on his own so we'll have to wait and see how that goes but it's difficult you want to help as many as you can and the requests never stop coming. It's what Monkey World was set up to do and Alison and the team look like they're in for a busy period ahead. Next time on Monkey Life. A tasty treat of corn for the chimps but Bart and his troop miss out due to his medical condition. Bart's been tested but he is too high so you'll have to skip Bart's group for today please. Yes roger. And the new Lima boys get the opportunity to experience life in the trees at Malagasy.