Happy Easter Sunday!
The Easter bilby has paid a seasonal visit to a variety of animals at both Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park, sharing wonderful Easter-themed enrichment created by the BEEZA group.
Keepers treated their furry friends to Easter-themed enrichment of mealworms in eggs for the male and female Greater Bilbies Gibs and Kora while the Quokkas were treated to sweet potato and Giant Panda Wang Wang cracked into a cardboard egg filled with carrots and panda cake.
In the Variety Children’s Zoo the guinea pigs enjoyed unicorn-inspired enrichment filled with hay, while bunnies Pepper, Basil, and Rocket nibbled on eggs filled with celery and spinach tops.
The mob of Meerkats munched on some mealworms inside wrapped boxes and the Ring-tailed Lemurs ate their favourite – crunchy sweet potatoes!
“Enrichment gives the animals an opportunity to use many of their natural behaviours including digging, scratching and excavating,” said Mark Smith, Curator of Adelaide Zoo.
“Enrichment also creates an educational opportunity to show our visitors how animals behave in the wild and a chance to engage with audiences, particularly kids.
“It’s seeing moments like a Greater Bilby playing with an egg that sparks interest and delight in nature. It’s so important because we hope our little visitors will go on to become the planet’s big conservation heroes,” finished Mark.
At Monarto Safari Park, slightly larger creatures were enjoying Easter escapades including the crash of Southern White Rhinoceros.
While fragile eggs wouldn’t last two seconds with animals that weigh over 2,000kg, Southern White Rhino bull Ibutho and the rest of the crash enjoyed putting their horn to use on large cardboard eggs stuffed with lucerne. Black-flanked Rock-wallabies Ruby and Tjawi nibbled on tasty corn and the Spotted Hyenas also had a delivery of tasty meat.
With a conservation-focused Easter egg trail at Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park until Tuesday 19 April, school holiday activities will then take an energetic yet zen-like turn.
Zen at the Zoo and Peaceful at the Park will see a yoga trail around the sites, where kids big and small are encouraged to make shapes like animals. QR codes will guide the flexible and the not so flexible through the moves.
Zoos SA is a conservation charity with a purpose to connect people to nature and save animals from extinction. Support through ticket sales, experiences and membership help to ensure Zoos SA can continue its work.
For more information and tickets head to: www.zoossa.com.au
