After Halloween many of us are at a loss as to what to do with leftover pumpkins – but not Twycross Zoo. Based in the Midlands, the zoo is using its remaining pumpkins to provide its animals with hours of play and enrichment. Across the many animal enclosures, keepers are finding clever ways of hiding food and treats inside pumpkin lanterns for the animals to seek out in ways which replicate their natural behaviour. In particular the meerkats were treated to some jack-o-lanterns containing some of their favourite tasty meal worms.
Dr Charlotte Macdonald, Director of Life Sciences says, “After Halloween we still had many fresh pumpkins left and their size and shape makes them a natural container to give our animals something new and interesting to investigate, eat or play with. Our meerkats are very inquisitive and clever, and are used to searching and digging for their food, so they immediately took to the challenge of getting inside the pumpkins in search of their treats.”
Twycross Zoo does everything possible to minimise its waste. Any of its pumpkins which are unsuitable for animal enrichment are composted on site for use by the zoo’s horticulture team.
Twycross Zoo is open to the public from 10.00 to 17.00. For more information and to book tickets visit www.twycrosszoo.org or call 0844 474 1777.
Photo Credit: Lucy Ray
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