Animals in wildlife parks spent their Duanwu Festival by enjoying delicious special zongzi and having fun with visitors in east China's Shanghai Municipality and northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Zongzi is a traditional Chinese food made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. People often enjoy it on the Duanwu Festival, or the Dragon Boat Festival, which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.
In the Shanghai Wild Animal Park, animals had their own special zongzi to mark the holiday. At the panda house, breeders laid zongzi in the center of fresh bamboo shoots, and then put various kinds of fruits on them. However, pandas showed no interest to zongzi, but went straightly to their favorite bamboo shoots.
For hippos and red pandas, breeders provided watermelons, apples, bananas and raisins to them as the festival food.
"We made different kinds of zongzi for different animals according to their preferences. For example, as elephants are big in body, they would have a watermelon as a zongzi," said Chu Qingpo, a staff member of the park.
In the Xi'an Qinling Wildlife Park in Shaanxi Province, visitors can help breeders make special zongzi for animals. They wrapped fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables in bamboo leaves to feed animals.
"During the three-day holiday of the Dragon Boat Festival, we provide a variety of activities to visitors, including lion dancing, performances, making zongzi, and feeding zongzi to animals. Welcome to the wildlife park," said Dong Shasha, assistant manager of the Sales and Marketing Department of the park.
Animals enjoy Duanwu Festival in east, northwest China's wildlife parks
