What a cool afternoon it was as live music echoed across the sanctuary. Of course i had forgotten that it was MUSIC enrichment day for the residents but quickly realized that for many of the animals, it was an afternoon to sit, watch, and listen.

For some residents like Burt, it was therapuetic. He is a rhesus macaque who "self bites" when under stress. As soon as Emma played her clarinet, he focused his eyes on her and just sat there peacefully listening.

A family of capuchins who were next all raced to their feed pans where they grabbed a monkey biscuit and then all sat next to each on a branch listening to the music. It looked like it was "dinner theater" day at PPI.

We would like to thank Emma Hengst (friend of enrichment coordinator Brooke Chavez) for taking time out of her schedule to make Music Day so special.

HELP IS NEEDED to make Music Day possible as we need old am/fm radios or even unwanted ipods that we can set and play music for the residents. Chavez is even working on creating Monkey Playlists that we can play for the residents and observe their reactions.

This way we can figure out what music styles the monkeys positively reacte to and have that music style set for those animals. All we need are the old radios in your attic, closet, garage, . . .