Dairy-free cheese, please: Primates at Moncton zoo get pizza made by visitors

It appears monkeys and apes at Moncton's Magnetic Hill Zoo prefer their pizzas with dairy-free cheese.

Members of the public got to make pizza for the primates on Saturday as part of a program to raise awareness about endangered primates and their habitats.

Barbara Bourque was visiting from Bathurst and decided to participate. It's not something the public gets to do every day.

Bourque said she likes a donair pizza but was surprised to see what the primates wanted. 

She made a naan pizza featuring tomato sauce, dairy-free cheese, red peppers, spinach, oregano and garlic powder. 

"I really thought that they would nibble at them and just throw them to the ground," she said. "I really didn't have hopes that they would eat them, but they did love them."

Ring-tailed lemurs, lar gibbons, siamangs and Angolan colobus monkeys enjoyed the feast. "It was comical to watch them," said Bourque.

The pizzas were fed to the primates by zookeepers. 

Hoot — a lar gibbon — didn't like it when a third serving was smaller than the first two, dropping it to the ground and staring down the zoo employee.

Another primate managed to get a big slice when it tugged the pizza box away from the employee.

"The last monkeys that we saw, when they were finished and they walked away with the pizzas, they were still picking through the fence at the red peppers that had fallen to the ground," said Bourque.

The educational aspect of the program helped people learn about palm oil products. Participants were taught to check if a product was manufactured without harming primate habitats.

"I understand that … they live a very difficult life out in nature, and when I go grocery shopping now, I'll definitely be looking for things that … will not hinder their life," said Bourque. 

Chantal Fortin-Daigle, the zoo's visitors and education co-ordinator, said the activity is a way to educate visitors about endangered species through a fun experience.

She said the primates get both curious and excited when the pizzas show up. Ingredients are screened by a dietitian and a nutritionist.

Fortin-Daigle said the animals at the zoo eat very well. She couldn't say if primates would approve of pineapple on their pizza.