Zoo Lions Steal Hidden Camera and the Results Are Just Too Funny
Large or small, there are several attributes that all cats—wild and otherwise—seem to have in common. Their fierce predator instincts is one of them. Even the most docile, fluffy housecoat retains its hunting ability—let it outside and it will bring you back a bird. My kitty, who never knew a day of hunger in her life, caught mice who invaded my kitchen when she was only a few months old. It’s instinct. Even big cats purr as well, a little-understood vocalization that felines display when both content and in pain, that some say soothes the animal’s anxiety, or even serves as sort of sonic healing or pain reliever.
And after watching what these captive zoo lions do to a hidden camera in their enclosure, it’s easy to make the argument that even the biggest cats are fans of mischief.
This video shows the highly amusing antics of a small pride of zoo lions in Oregon. The keepers hid a camera in the enclosure to record the felines as they played in the water feature in their exhibit, but these cats were more wily than they first appeared. Soon enough, the lions discover this camera and take it with them, giving us a cat’s eyed view of their activities — and sometimes, like when they have the machine in their mouth, the perspective of their prey.
This isn’t the first time the lions at the Oregon zoo have found the cameras watching them either, A similar incident back in August went viral, and people all over the world laughed along to the site of lion tongues, lion chins, and lion selfies galore.
It’s all part of a creative enrichment program aimed at making sure the pride of lions at the zoo remain healthy, happy and well engaged, despite their captive status.
The Life of a Zoo Animal
Responsible zoos these days practice giving their animals enrichment activities to keep them active and in good spirits. As anyone knows, life in captivity can’t be easy. On the plus side, there’s always enough food and medical care. On the minus, they are confined to a space usually vastly smaller than the territory they would occupy in the wild. They do not get the choice of their companions, and they have to deal with screaming schoolchildren all day long.
It’s easy to get bored, stressed, or even depressed in these scenarios. Enter enrichment.
Enrichment for Zoo Animals
Common enrichment activities include things like giving the animals tasks or toys, like letting apes wash the windows of their enclosure, or providing polar bears with pool rafts. An evergreen method of enrichment is to hide food in puzzles or other hard-to-reach places, to mimic the work the animals would have to do in the wild. And then there’s always the option of switching around the habitat in which they live.
At the Oregon Zoo, they take their enrichment seriously. They dangle cat toys from the roofs, hide food under rocks, and sprinkle bedding used by goats in the enclosure to activate the lions’ predatory sense of smell. They’ve even walked goats through the enclosure when the lions weren’t in it to create a “game trail.”
Safe to say these lions are on the prowl.
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