Christmas comes early for animals at Whipsnade Zoo
Seasonal treats delight lions, elephants, penguins, and macaques
Animals at Whipsnade Zoo, the UK’s largest conservation zoo, have been treated to an early Christmas celebration complete with seasonal gifts and treats designed to stimulate and entertain them.
Zookeepers created festive experiences for lions, elephants, macaques, and rockhopper penguins, providing enriching activities and special food designed to encourage the animals' natural behaviours.
For the zoo’s colony of rockhopper penguins, breakfast arrived hidden inside a Christmas-tree-shaped ice block, while Sulawesi crested macaques were greeted with Christmas crackers in their enclosure, which challenged them to use their cognitive abilities to retrieve snacks inside.
Seven north African lion cubs discovered scented stockings, presents, and crackers in their paddock as their keepers showcased activities to engage their finely tuned sense of smell.
Elephants, including three-year-old Nang-Phaya, enjoyed a real Christmas tree placed in their enclosure, giving the playful animals a chance to push, rub against, and even taste the pine.
Celebrating the season at Whipsnade
Animal Manager Hayley Jakeman explained the benefits of introducing seasonal treats:
“Christmas feels like the perfect time to celebrate the 11,000 animals that call our conservation zoo home.”
“Putting novel items into our animals' homes helps to encourage their inquisitive nature, as it gives them something new to explore. Some will need to use their sense of smell to work out that the unfamiliar items contain food, and others will need to use their brains to work out how to retrieve their food from inside festive packages.”
Whipsnade Zoo says that every visit helps support ZSL’s science and conservation work that aims to protect and restore wildlife across the globe, ensuring that animals both in captivity and in the wild benefit from efforts to preserve their future.