Animals at Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World have been enchanted by a generous donation of pumpkins from Little Wytheford Farm in Shropshire. The zoo’s animals ranging from lemurs to cockatoos and wolves to meerkats have been demonstrating their natural curiosity at the autumnal fruits after the pumpkins were placed in their habitats as part of the zoo’s animal enrichment programme.
The seasonal ‘enrichment’ allows the animals to explore and engage with the pumpkins, creating a lively and interactive experience for both the animals and zoo visitors.
The European Wolves have displayed their playful side by wrestling with the pumpkins, while the cockatoos have been observed using their pumpkins as new vantage points, enhancing their environment, before tucking in to them as a tasty snack.
The world-famous Cinnamon, the capybara, who made worldwide headlines after escaping from her enclosure last month seemed a lot less impressed with the pumpkins than her twin brother, Churro.
“Our pumpkin donation from Little Wytheford Farm is a wonderful addition to the zoo and has provided a real pop of seasonal color across our animal habitats and we’re really grateful to the team at the farm for thinking of us,” said Will Dorrell, Owner at Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World.
“Most importantly, the pumpkins provide a great opportunity for us to offer enrichment to our animals that promotes natural behaviors such as exploring new sights, tastes, colors and smells. Some of our animals tucked straight in to the pumpkins, seeing them as a tasty snack, whereas our European Wolves could be seen picking them up in their mouth before eventually destroying them.”
Lucky visitors to the zoo, will hopefully continue to see the animals’ interactions with the pumpkins during the Halloween season and the upcoming October half term break.
