Tiger cubs, meerkats and monkeys forage for Easter eggs at London Zoo

The entertainment was part of a wider Easter egg hunt organised for visitors at the conservation zoo.
A Bolivian black-capped squirrel monkey enjoying an Easter treat at ZSL London Zoo (Yui Mok/PA)
PA Wire
Lily Ford5 April 2023

Staff at London Zoo “stepped into the role of Easter bunny” on Wednesday as Sumatran tigers, meerkats and squirrel monkeys foraged for treats in a zoo-wide Easter egg hunt.

The creatures at the zoo were offered the chance to claw into giant cardboard eggs and join in the Easter merriment, allowing them to “practise their natural foraging behaviours”.

Nine-month-old critically endangered Sumatran tiger cubs Crispin and Zac sniffed out a cinnamon-scented trail left by staff to find their eggs, while the meerkats hunted among sand and rocks for eggs filled with moss and crickets.

Some Bolivian black-capped squirrel monkeys found theirs hanging in their treetop home and stuffed with sweet potato, sweetcorn and peas.

The entertainment was part of a wider Easter egg hunt organised for visitors at the conservation zoo.

London Zoo manager Dan Simmonds said: “While our visitors are busy on the Zoo-normous Egg Hunt – following a trail of egg-laying animal-themed clues to find the golden egg – zookeepers have stepped into the role of Easter bunny to make sure the animals don’t miss out on any of the egg-based action.”

“We’re always exploring creative new ways for the animals to practise their natural foraging and hunting behaviours, and Easter provides the perfect opportunity to offer up some enriching, egg-based animal activities – it’s also a great way for our visitors to learn about different animals and their natural skills.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in