Red pandas, sloths, lynx, and armadillos at the zoo had a frightfully good feast when they were served up pumpkins as part of the Halloween celebrations.
The creatures at Drusillas Zoo Park, near Alfriston, gorged themselves on carved pumpkins which were lined with tasty treats and smells to attract them to the feast inside.
Keepers waited patiently to see if the animals would line up for a perfect pumpkin head picture.
One of the zoo’s newest arrivals, Friston the Eurasian lynx, got involved for the first time.
Flash the sloth - who was raised at the zoo - found chicory hidden in her gourd and Maja the red panda snuffled panda cake from inside his.
Eddie the armadillo dug found bugs inside his gourd and binturong Penh chomped juicy tomatoes from inside his very own pumpkin head.
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The zoo said activities like this form an important part of their daily enrichment programmes.
Keepers are always thinking up creative ways of offering their animals additional mental and physical stimulation for the day and a hanging pumpkin provides a great new object to explore and investigate.
Senior keeper, Jacinta Dawe said: “It’s really important for us to give our animals stimulation and enrichment every day, and many of them already have pumpkin as part of their natural diet.
“Each day we try to mix it up and provide a new form of enrichment for them, whether it’s scent enrichment using herbs and oils, puzzle equipment, or food presented in new ways like today.
“It might look like we’re just having fun, but it’s actually a really vital part of our job to continually offer new activities to keep their minds stimulated and encourage them to problem solve and engage in natural behaviours. In the wild food wouldn’t just be handed to them every day, so this is a great way to make them work for it.”
The seasonal fun comes ahead of Drusillas’ annual Shriek Week event over half term, where visitors can enjoy a Halloween attractions, such as their live-action haunted house and escaped mummy maze.
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