Kiambu the striped hyena and Felix the brown bear as well as the flock of Bactrian camels in the zoo in Bratislava have been enjoying unused Christmas trees.
“For animals kept in the zoo, anything new provides some very welcome variety which does not fit into the normal routine, supports their natural curiosity and playfulness and stimulates their senses,” the zoo wrote on social networks.
The so-called enrichment of animals held in captivity can take various forms including unused Christmas trees, as long as these do not impose any dangers for the animals from forgotten decorations or hooks.
“They are ideal for digging, rolling, tasting, rubbing, rolling again and finally for smelling,” the zoo wrote.
The zoo is calling on people not to bring in used Christmas trees as they cannot make a use of them for the animals.
The 96-hectare Bratislava zoo with a total of almost 1300 animals and 183 species including their first offspring born in 2021 – a llama baby boy called Lorenzo – remains open during the lockdown. People can visit it daily from 10:00 until 16:00, with the last entry at 15:00.
