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Sawdust for Easter? Adelaide’s pandas love it

Bill Shorten has vowed to keep  Fu Ni and partner Wang Wang in Adelaide if Labor wins the upcoming election.

Bill Shorten has vowed to keep Fu Ni and partner Wang Wang in Adelaide if Labor wins the upcoming election. Photo: ABC

While many of us are looking forward to chocolate eggs and hot cross buns, the animals at Adelaide Zoo have already been given a little taste of Easter.

But their treats are a little different to ours.

The pandas, Wang Wang and Fu Ni, along with the meerkats and lions, on Thursday ripped into papier-mache bilbies which were filled with their favourite foods.

Meerkats at Adelaide Zoo

Meerkats also got in on the act, swarming a fake bilby filled with treats. Photo: ABC

Wang Wang’s bilby – made by the zoo’s volunteer enrichment team – was filled with sawdust, his favourite scent.

“In Fu Ni’s bunny, we’ve got some panda cake, some fruits which are some of her favourites – so she couldn’t wait to tuck into that,” panda keeper Connie Girardi said.

Lion at Adelaide Zoo

A natural hunter, the lion was also given a tasty morsel to enjoy. Photo: ABC

She said the zoo tried to provide enrichment activities for the animals every day, but they always offered something extra special for the holidays.

“They absolutely love toys and anything a little bit different in their environment,” Ms Girardi said.

Adelaide Zoo panda

Papier-mâché bilbies were filled with the animals’ favourite foods. Photo: ABC

“They are in the same environment every day … and because they’re really smart, they need mental stimulation.

“Out in the wild they’d do a lot more physical activity than they get a chance to here, so anything we can do to encourage them to move is also physically stimulating as well.”

-ABC

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