DISAPPOINTING Christmas presents are a hazard of the festive season.
But staff at Edinburgh Zoo are asking the public to donate unwanted gifts to their animals.
Keepers say their 200 strong colony of gentoo, rockhopper and king penguins love to chase bubbles and reflections ,and top of their Christmas list would be bubble machines or CDs and DVDs to string up in their enclosure.
If granny’s knitting isn’t quite to size the chimpanzees and other primates would love to use them as snuggle blankets, or just generally tear them to shreds.
The primates would also welcome old newspapers, telephone directories or any cardboard tubes.
Non-toxic paint, canvasses and brushes will go down well with the macaws, who love to get creative, and the parrots, who love the noise, can offer a new home for discarded baby rattles.
And birds of prey love to retrieve rubber snakes, spiders and frogs.
Once the festive fun is over, Christmas trees can be put to good use as scratching posts, back rubs or just something curious to investigate.
Edinburgh Zoo’s animals can also make brilliant use of lengths of rope made of natural material for a variety of fun activities.
Anyone wishing to donate to the animals should get in touch with the Edinburgh Zoo Enrichment Team.
