Primate instructional devices are known in the art. These devices typically serve the dual purposes of both educating the primate and enriching the primate's environment. There is increasing awareness that captive primates in civilized environments require mental stimulation to maintain health, strength and well-being. In fact, government regulation now mandates such humane treatment of caged primates.
Several such devices are designed for a primate to guide an object through a maze, i.e. by simulating "foraging" for a morsel of food so that the primate may retrieve the food at the end of a maze. Normally, however, a primate can learn a maze structure fairly rapidly, and the simpler, fixed maze-type educational devices are thus quickly stripped of their utility. Another drawback of many of these devices is that with more difficult mazes, which a primate may not learn absent some degree of instruction, there is no way to actually "teach" the primate to maneuver an object through the maze.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an educational device which is provided with (1) a variable rather than a fixed maze structure, and (2) a means for instructing the primate through the maze. The variable maze device of the present invention is directed to each of these considerations, and in addition, can be used as a crib toy to instruct and entertain infant children.