Drusillas Park, which is near Alfriston, has posted a video on TikTok that has gained more than 9 millions views and 1.6 million likes in a week.
The trending ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’ sees people cutting the bottom out of jack-o-lanterns and wearing them as masks set to Jack Stauber’s track ‘Oh Klahoma’. The trend was given an animal twist by the team at Drusillas who chose to feature servals, capybaras, monkeys, beavers and goats.
With cameras at the ready, the zoo’s team lined carved pumpkins with treats and scent enrichment and waited patiently for their animals to investigate, in hopes of creating a pumpkin head illusion.
One commenter wrote: “This is the winner. Everyone else can only try at this point.” Another commented: “Thank you for doing this! Such a cute video the best one I’ve seen yet.” And one said: “Dear god this is the best thing I’ve ever seen.”
The team said they were careful to execute the challenge without causing any stress to their animals, by removing the back portions of the pumpkins and letting the animals choose whether to engage or not.
The activity formed part of the zoo’s daily enrichment programmes, which offers their animals food in unusual and creative ways for additional mental and physical stimulation.
Zookeeper Claudia Farley 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 zoo explained that the pumpkins will not go to waste as the leftovers will be offered to many of the park’s 800 exotic animals once the celebrations are over.
READ THIS:
1. Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’
Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’ Photo: Drusillas Park
2. Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’
Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’ Photo: Drusillas Park
3. Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’
Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’ Photo: Drusillas Park
4. Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’
Drusillas Park's ‘pumpkin head photoshoot challenge’ Photo: Drusillas Park