PREVIEW

Now that the holiday season is over, the care staff at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago are repurposing dozens of Christmas trees - with the zoo’s animals also getting in on the act.


The trees were decorated by more than 900 community organizations, families, and corporations and lined the Zoo’s pathways for its annual Holiday Magic celebration.

On Tuesday 9 January, many of the animals received the trees for enrichment to keep them playful and occupied while in captivity.


The reindeer and bison rubbed their antlers and horns, respectively, in the greenery. Brutus, one of the Zoo’s African lions, and Whirl, an Amur tiger, retrieved bones from their trees that were hung upside down in their habitats.
Hudson, one of the polar bears, and Jess and Tim, 1-year-old brown bear siblings who recently arrived at the Zoo, had their trees decorated with a variety of vegetables.
The hundreds of trees that are not used for animal enrichment will get chipped and used for landscaping around zoo.