Pumpkin play for ZSL Whipsnade Zoo’s cheetah cubs
Monday 29 October 2012
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo’s cheetah cubs have been given a frightfully fun way to celebrate Halloween – pumpkins to play with in their enclosure!
© ZSL
It’s the first time the six cheeky cubs have seen a pumpkin – and the five-month old youngsters wasted no time investigating the Jack O’Lanterns.
After giving them a good growl, the cubs were spotted having a kick about with them, alongside mum, Dubai, who also came over to investigate.
Africa section team leader, Mark Holden, said: “As it was the first time they’d been given pumpkins to play with, we weren’t sure how they would react – they could have completely ignored them. But after cautiously circling them, they soon got into the spirit of things and had great fun playing them and it ended up being a fantastic enrichment activity for them.”
Visitors to ZSL Whipsnade Zoo this week will get a chance to see a host of the Zoo’s animals enjoying Halloween-inspired treats, including the ring-tailed lemurs, red river hogs, otters and wolves, as part of a spine tingling series of talks, feeds and demonstrations.
Creepy crafts and ghoulish games are also taking place for Boo at the Zoo including bat mask making, spider crafts, and a things that go bump in the night touch table.
The week’s activities also includes storytelling and a fun, interactive “scare factor” test, inviting visitors to dip their hands into mystery touch boxes.
All this, plus a full schedule of daily shows at Birds of the World and the Sealion Splash, not forgetting Hullabazoo – ZSL Whipsnade Zoo’s brand new indoor play centre .
