Christmas comes early for Perth Zoo’s beloved orangutangs, with special gifts filled with favourite treats

Christmas came early for Perth’s quartet of orangutans and their keepers on Tuesday, as the beloved Perth Zoo primates got to open their presents today.

After brief inspecting their brightly wrapped gifts, orangutans Sungai, Lestari, Utama and Pulang got busy with the bigger task of unwrapping them.

“These guys are definitely on the nice list,” primate keeper Nadia Marina-Hart said.

“I think of them as my children, they’re like the human equivalent of a teenager - they remind me of my kids sometimes.”

The presents, which were hand-decorated by their keepers, contained favourite treats such as vegetables, popcorn, sunflower seeds, coconut and rosemary.

Ms Marina-Hart says the Christmas gift-giving was a yearly tradition, although the presents were also delivered with a purpose.

“Unwrapping or unboxing is an important enrichment activity that we try to do with them often,” she said.

“Its extra special at Christmas, as they get their favourite foods, but in general it’s stimulating for their brains and mimics how they’d forage in the wild.

“All day, all year-round we try to stimulate them. . . and we tailor it to each orangutan, we know their personalities. . . we see how closely bonded they are with us (keepers) and everyday is different for them.”

All eight orangutans were born at Perth Zoo.

The species is critically endangered and part of the zoo’s conservation efforts go towards helping re-release primates caught up in the illegal wildlife trade.

Perth Zoo partners with the conservation group Frankfurt Zoological Society, which has rescued more than 200 Sumatran orangutans from the illegal trade.

Ms Marina-Hart said the partnership works to rehabilitate orangutans so they can be sent back into the wild.

“We have helped three orangutans be released back into the wild since 2006, which is an important part of our work,” she said.

Perth Zoo is open all year round, so locals can spend Christmas with the apes too - the zoo expects to welcome about 1500 visitors through the gates on Christmas Day.