From cigarette-smoking orangutans to lavender for lions: Melbourne zoo’s dark history gives way to progressive animal care

Ndidi the lion rubs himself against scented leaves left in his enclosure at Melbourne zoo. Photograph: Ellen Smith/The Guardian

On the other side of wire mesh, two large lions pace, shaking their shaggy manes and occasionally letting out a low rumbling, not quite a roar. They think – or perhaps hope – it is feeding day but their keepers have other plans.

“We sort of mimic what happens in the wild,” Meryl says. “They got fed on Monday.” It’s Wednesday, so Meryl is walking around the temporarily empty enclosure with a bucket and a shovel, looking for the outcome of that feed: lion poo.