Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

They spend time to dig out the fruits.  

Thanks for Maria Trenary from Oakland Zoo as they have sent us some dozen of “Kong” toy. Kong is a very hard rubber toy that is specially made for animals to bite. You can put food inside it to make it more interesting and fun.

What our centre used to do is put in fruits like bananas, apples, dog food, honey, and sugar cane. Then we will put them into the refrigerator to make the food inside the Kong become harder and cool.

Keningau is using all her paws to get the food out of the “Kong” toy.

I have to tell you our bears love Kong. They will spend time to dig the food, and lick it until the very last bit of fruits with their long tongue! They are not let go the Kong even though they have finished the food inside. They just like to play with the empty Kong by throwing them like a baseball!

Other than that, we also hang tire in the bear cage. Tires are the bear’s toy that we can get free and it is durable. Our bears like to bite the tire, spin it, or even bang it on the wall! They also love to climb on it and swing themselves together with the tire.

 You can tell that the bears like tires with this video above.

Om likes his tire very much and even sleeps with the tire. 

In my opinion, a successful enrichment is something that can attract our bears to spend their times and make them feel like they are not kept in a cage. As a keeper, I know it is challenging, but it is so rewarding to see them enjoy the enrichment.

Our bears like to roll on the dried leaves as it makes them feels like rolling on the forest floor. 

To ensure our bears are fully utilizing all the enrichments and learn or revise the basic skills such as forage, digging, destroying and climbing, foods is always the best incentives. Normally, we cut fruits into various sizes and hide them in different places in the exercise enclosures. We have to think creative and try to not put the food in the same place for the same bear. Bears are smart and they really do remember where to search for their favorite banana and papaya.

Foods were hidden in different places to encourage our bears to exercise and foraging.

The bears have to forage in the rock pool, and this keeps them active. 

Sun bears can be quite arboreal. Enrichment should encourage them to climb. 

In the next article, I will still talk about the enrichments that we do in BSBCC. Hope to get your feed back and comments. Thank you.