Recycled Christmas trees become a holiday treat for Prague Zoo residents

The Christmas holidays are over, but the animals at Prague Zoo will get a festive treat over the New Year's weekend. About 300 unsold Christmas trees donated by local vendors will make for a seasonal snack for the zoo's inhabitants to munch on.

This weekend, visitors to Prague Zoo can catch special feeding sessions during which zoo attendants feed the Christmas trees to the animals. So far, elephants, macaques, leopards, honey badgers, and other animals have already had chance to enjoy the festive snack, with the zoo sharing photos to social media.

Prague Zoo has received a total of 268 unsold trees from local vendors this season so far according to zoo director Miroslav Bobek, with more expected to be received in the upcoming days.

In past years, the zoo has called on Prague residents to donate their old Christmas trees after the holidays, but they've received more than enough stock from local vendors this year.

According to Bobek, most of the animals don't actually feed on the Christmas trees, but instead have fun playing with them as an unusual seasonal activity. Some herbivores, meanwhile, do enjoy eating the trees. For them, the zoo has chosen mostly hemlock pines (unrelated to the poisonous plant) to diversify their diets.

The special seasonal feedings will continue throughout the weekend. Today, parrots, bisons, elephants, honey badgers, and other species will receive the seasonal treat.

On Saturday, visitors can see special feeding sessions with giraffes at Prague Zoo's African house from 11:30 a.m., and gorillas at the Dja Reserve from 12:00 p.m. On Sunday, the zoo's camels will kick off the new year with a feeding session from 11:30, and the elephants will get their share from 1:30 p.m.

Over the past ten years, Prague Zoo has made an annual tradition out of presenting their residents unused Christmas trees. The trees make for a fun diversion for species that don't eat them, and an special seasonal photo opportunity for zoo visitors to close out the year.

Prague Zoo has a lot to celebrate as we move into 2023.

The zoo welcomed a number of notable births over the past year, including an endangered gibbon, a bison, an aadvark, and many more. Yesterday, the zoo shared a compilation video of the new births over the past year to its YouTube channel.