The Zoo is open all Easter weekend and thanks to the crafting skills of the Docent, Zoo Volunteers, there will be ‘eggcellent’ enrichment treats featuring in some of the keeper talks and feeding sessions.

Today the meerkats, coati and tigers got to start their Easter egg hunt early.

Perth Zoo Keeper, Marty Boland said: “Instead of chocolate the eggs were filled with favourite food items and some even had different scents rubbed on them.”

“Curiosity is important for any creature and as part of our enrichment program we’re constantly ensuring every day is different”.

Perth Zoo Keepers set new challenges for the animals daily. This includes hiding food so the animals have to forage and work for their meals, stimulating their hunting and foraging abilities and in turn educating visitors about the extraordinary abilities of animals.

Sumatran Tiger, Dumai, enjoyed a double celebration with a birthday surprise added alongside his Easter eggs.

“Dumai turns 15 on April 4th and plays a very important role at Perth Zoo as an ambassador animal for this critically endangered species. Sadly there are less than 400 Sumatran Tigers left in the wild. Perth Zoo works hard to protect Dumai’s wild cousins, funding anti-poaching patrols and tiger research in Sumatra,” Marty said.

Over in the Zoo’s Amazonia precinct, the South American Coati used their long snouts to sniff their Easter eggs before cracking into them. Whilst the ever inquisitive Slender-tailed Meerkats, led by a new female who recently arrived from Werribee Zoo, inspected their Easter eggs from every angle, which included sticking their heads inside!

“We hope this will be the start of an eggcellent year for our Meerkat mob, the new girl, Bamba will allow us to breed again and welcome a new litter of baby meerkats into the regional breeding program,” Marty said.

Novel enrichment like the eggs encourages our animals to use different skills and methods to get to their food items and keeps them thinking. Pet owners can apply some of these techniques to keep their animals at home happy and healthy.

Perth Zoo is open every day of the year from 9:00am – 5:00pm including Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.