We had a lot of success using a large hemp ball in one of our Sumatran tiger enclosures - Toba went a little crazy with it... so we decided to attempt it with one of out younger pumas who is known to play with footballs and is generally very playful. So one of the keepers managed to manoeuvre it from one side of the site to Yazhi's enclosure and attacked it with a range of spices and herbs and left it for her to discover.
The result was less than impressive as you can see by the video, although there was some Flehmen response which was probably as exciting as it got...
The Flehmen response in brief is when a cat (although it occurs in other animals also) lifts its upper lip and draws air in over the Jacobson's gland on the roof of the mouth. This is to establish the reproductive status of an animal in addition to other chemical cues.
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