Zoo animals ring in spooky season by playing with pumpkins!
Humans aren't the only animals that love to play, carve, and eat orange gourds, as proven by these five adorable videos of zoo animals interacting with Halloween pumpkins!
Pumpkins mean one thing: Halloween season is finally here!
Pumpkins are great to eat, but they're also a wonderful enrichment tool for kids, adults, and zoo animals.
Zoos around the US are getting into spooky season by giving their charges pumpkins to play with. Spoiler alert: it's super cute!
Some animals, like African giant pouched rats, are into chowing down on the gourds, while others, like snow leopards, are into pouncing on pumpkins.
These adorable clips of zoo animals playing with gourds will get you in the mood for Halloween and pumpkin spice season.
Penguins enjoy a poppin' pumpkin party at Milwaukee Zoo
Milwaukee Zoo is into giving their animals pumpkins to play with and eat.
On Wednesday, they shared an adorable clip of a pumpkin-themed party they threw for their penguins on Twitter. They even put a bubble machine in a painted jack-o-lantern!
These birds may not be able to fly, but it looks like they're having a thrilling time trying to peck at the bubbles.
But that's not all! The zookeepers have even let their colony of bats and pride of lions sniff and eat the squashes as well!
Giant rat gobbles up a gourd in Tacoma
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, took to Twitter to introduce their African giant pouched rat named Celine, sharing a cute clip of her chowing down on a pumpkin treat in honor of Halloween.
In their post, the keepers claimed that this "fuzzy, cute, and smart" rat's pumpkin treat was "tiny," but we beg to disagree. The gourd is as big as she is!
Snow leopard pounces on a pumpkin in Philadelphia
"Snow leopard Yuki is all of us running to get pumpkin everything," keepers at Philadelphia Zoo claimed in their recent tweet.
The post included an adorable clip of Yuki bounding down a tree in her habitat to spring onto a squash and then lick it. This short sweet clip may just make you want to lick a pumpkin spice latte!
Little cow plays with a pumpkin at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
Even cows are into pumpkins!
A muskox calf named Willow was thrilled to butt a pumpkin around with her nose, as another sweet video from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium shows.
In the tweet, keepers said that this is Willow's first pumpkin. It looks like this curious calf was thrilled with her new toy!
Let's hope she isn't too upset when the squash goes squish...
Beavers are busy with their pumpkin treats in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium gave its colony of beavers some small squashes to munch on. The zoo shared footage to Twitter of their furry animals taking stock of the squashes.
One Twitter user joked, "Now I understand why beaver teeth are orange."
Hopefully, these adorable animals have gotten you in the mood for pumpkin season!
Cover photo: Collage: Screenshot/Twitter/ Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium &Screenshot/Twitter/Milwaukee Zoo