Step aside, children: A Chilean zoo stages an Easter egg hunt with treats for the animals

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SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Step aside, children — this Easter egg hunt is for zoo animals only.

At the largest private zoo in Chile, several of its animal residents — meerkats, monkeys, lemurs and others — searched on Sunday for their food packaged as Easter egg-themed treats.

The “egg hunt” is an annual event at Bioparque Buinzoo in the country’s capital, Santiago, meant to both entertain visitors and stimulate natural food-hunting behavior in various species.

Zookeepers placed small bags decorated like Easter eggs but packed with meat in the enclosures of small felines, such as caracals, who leapt up tree branches to get their snacks.

A meerkat had a basket with eggs placed in between some rocks in its enclosure. Monkeys and lemurs were treated to fruits hidden in brown paper bags decorated with bunny years.

Ignacio Idalsoaga, the zoo's director, said that “in nature, these animals spend much of their life looking for food” so the zoo wanted to recreate that behavior.

The treats and snacks were “not chocolate eggs,” he added reassuringly but foods the animals would eat in their natural habitat.

The annual even has been held for the past 16 years, Idalsoaga said. This year, sheep also had to forage for their food pellets inside a colorful sphere with holes in it.

“Our creative team has been very imaginative this year” Idalsoaga said.