April 2009
Longleat Lions Get The "Lion Share" Of Eggs This Easter!
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The Lions have been presented with Ostrich eggs |
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Longleat keepers watched with interest as they gave ostrich eggs to their pride of lions earlier this week.
Lions will eat ostrich eggs in the wild but this was the first time that Longleat had tried them out on their own pride.
As Deputy Head Warden, Ian Turner, explained “We are always looking for novel food items and feeding methods for the animals and have trialled all sorts of foods over the years including warming bowls of porridge for the parrots in the winter and fruit lollies for the giraffe in summer.
“We have always struggled a bit with the big cats however as menu options are somewhat limited – meat, meat or meat.
“It was a member of the Big Cat team however who suggested that we might try ostrich eggs as they had read up that lions can eat them in the wild. Fortunately for us, we had some eggs that were not being sat on so we thought we’d give it a go.
“To be honest, it worked a dream. We put a handful of eggs into the enclosure and sat back and watched. The
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Charlie the Alpha Male sniffs his Easter treat |
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females moved in first with Sky practising the snatch and run technique whilst Nola treated it more like a plaything before she realised that it was actually edible!
“Even Charlie the alpha male who would normally watch and wait for his dinner, joined in the fun and seemed somewhat amazed at the novel treat.
“Staff even tried their hand at decorating a few. There was no fooling the lions though as these proved equally delicious as the undecorated versions!”
The lions at Longleat consume over 40 tonnes of meat each year, the equivalent of two 9-stone people a day. Lions are very sociable and hunt together, often sharing prey and helping rear each other’s cubs.
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BBC
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