Curious Zoo Animals Unwrapping Presents at New York City Zoos

Earlier this year, a troop of lemurs at the San Francisco Zoo ate their Thanksgiving feast at a specially appointed table of lemur-friendly snacks. Now the animals at two New York City zoos, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo, are getting wrapped gifts of their favorite food treats through the Presents to the Animals program administered by the Wildlife Conservation Society. Watch as the dwarf mongooses at Prospect Park Zoo dig through brightly colored wrapping to uncover their mealworm treat and then take a look at Spangles and Cisco, the andean bears at Queens Zoo rummage through a box of peanut butter. For more fun, Prospect Park Zoo has posted several videos of animals from various years opening gifts.

Presents for the animals are a form of enrichment. Prospect Park Zoo provides this and other types of mental and physical stimulation to keep the animals’ minds and bodies healthy and active.

via Gothamist

photo by Suzanne Bolduc for Wildlife Conservation Society