Twycross Zoo
60 Mensans from the East and West Midlands met at Twycross Zoo on Sunday 15th June for an 'enrichment day'. It was great to see so many new faces including families with toddlers to teens. A great day out for the Dads celebrating Father's Day too!
After arrival refreshments our large group was split into two with one group remaining in the Study Centre to make enrichment whilst the other walked across the zoo to the Discovery Centre for a talk. The talk covered the history of the zoo and how it was founded by Molly Badham in the 1940s, how their chimps became famous in the PG Tips advertisements, how the zoo is involved in worldwide breeding programmes, what improvements are currently being undertaken at the zoo, and much more. At the end the staff member asked if there were any questions. She probably regretted this as nearly every child in the room had something they wanted to know! Obviously a good talk for the younger members to remain interested for nearly 45 minutes. The enrichment making involved getting creative with cardboard tubes, egg cartons, paper, string, balloons and paper-mache. Items made were then filled with animal feed including fruit, vegetables and seeds ready to hang in the animal enclosures later. The idea being that the animals need to use their brains to find the food.
Unfortunately it started to drizzle at the precise moment our lunchtime picnic was due to take place. So everyone scattered to the indoor picnic area or other shelters around the zoo. Not quite the convivial group picnic in lovely sunshine that I had envisaged. Typical British summer weather!
At 2.00pm we met up to begin our guided tour of the zoo. As a leading primate centre, Twycross is the only zoo in the UK where you can see all four types of great ape. So we saw gorillas, chimpanzees, orang utans and bonobos. As well as a very cute baby elephant just a few weeks old.
The tour finished in the petting zoo area where we were allowed inside the goat enclosure to feed the animals our enrichment made earlier. Let's just say it didn't last long once the goats appeared! There were squeals of delight and much laughter as the animals devoured our treats, almost knocking us out of the way to do so!
There was then a remaining three hours to explore the zoo at leisure. We were able to visit the new butterfly house and see butterflies that hatched that morning. Although guests with very young children or with long journeys home departed soon, when I left at 6.00pm there were still several small groups of Mensans admiring the snowleopard outside the entrance building.
At only £10 per person I was told by guests that this was an exceptional value day out. Thanks to everyone who came - and with apologies to those who remained on the waiting list as the event proved so popular.