Animals get Christmas treats at Taronga Zoo Sydney

Taronga Zoo Sydney celebrated Christmas a little early this year by giving enrichment treats to some of zoo's animals including African Lions and Australian sea lions. Lion brors Lwazi and Ato received some aromatic pine Christmas trees.

"y've never seen m before, certainly t here at Taronga, and y were really excited. re were some new scents, something new for m to play with," said Taronga Zoo Sydney Exotic Fauna Manr Mandy Everett on Monday.

giraffes and herd of capybaras munched ir way through an array of wreaths me from olive boughs, apples and elephant grass. "It was great because giraffes h to work really hard to rip those leaves away from wreath," Everett said. Young Australian sea lion pup Amalie and mum Nala were treated to some crushed ice with a Christmas mess attached.

Squirrel monkeys enjoyed some hanging Christmas decorations me from sweet potato and capsicum. Greater bilbies used ir excellent sense of smell to investigate some native flowers. Enrichment gives animals an opportunity to display natural behaviors y would use in wild.