Animal Care Spotlight: Bongo and Barbary Macaque Training

Here at Woburn Safari Park, our highly qualified keepers have devised all sorts of creative methods to care for our animals in the most efficient ways. We caught up with Keepers Dayna and Priya to talk all about the new methods they have been using to train the Barbary macaques and eastern mountain bongo to allow for less stressful health checks and vet interventions.

First up was the herd of eastern mountain bongo, which includes male Bowie and three females Odongo, Othaya and Okia. Keeper Dayna and the rest of the team have been working hard to target train these beautiful (but very large and strong!) creatures. This process involves the antelope pressing their nose to a colourful target stick held by a keeper and receiving a reward in the form of some tasty cabbage.

Why is target training so useful?

This process might sound simple enough, but Keeper Dayna went on to explain the importance of this training in ensuring the safety of the keepers and these wonderful animals.

‘We have to be aware that these are very big animals that can do a lot of damage, they have really large horns. We must always work with him within close proximity to a vehicle. We use target training as a foundation to allow us to move the animals to certain locations, desensitize them to get them used to us touching them and making sure they keep still while we perform important health checks’.

‘We are working to do some voluntary blood withdrawals’,  explained Keeper Dayna. ‘Bongo have a vein that runs down the back of their legs and we work on applying gentle pressure to this vein through touch training, getting him used to being touched in this area. From there the vet staff can actually progress onto withdrawing blood from his leg when needed – which is going to a much less stressful process than sedating him’.

How are the Barbary Macaques trained?

The herd are coming on leaps and bounds with their new target, touch and blood withdrawal training – much like the Barbary macaques who also live in the African Forest section of the Road Safari.

Keeper Priya and the team have been working hard to train them for similar health checks – inviting them into a specialist house to show keepers their hands and legs voluntarily for any injuries or health issues – through target training.

‘Every barbary is on a different training level’ explained Keeper Priya. ‘With our target training, we show them a small stick with a colourful ball on the end and when they touch it we reward them with some food. By getting them to show us their hands voluntarily we can have a look for any injuries’.

With 13 acres of forest enclosure, these training methods are vital to ensure keepers can closely health check the Barbary macaques and bongo herd. Spot them both in the African Forest section of the Road Safari on your next visit! 

Enter Our Bongo Charity Competition

Help raise vital funds for the Bongo Surveillance Project and be entered into the prize draw to WIN a thrilling VIP Experience for you and up to six loved ones! Find out more here.