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Check Out the Crazy Holiday Cakes Made for Animals at the National Zoo

Bloody ice pops, cattle femurs, and other yummy (for animals) stuff.

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Check Out the Crazy Holiday Cakes Made for Animals at the National Zoo
Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

What do you get a panda for his birthday? A frozen fruitsicle cake, of course. That’s just one of the treats prepped by the National Zoo’s commissary team, who often cook up species-­appropriate “enrichment” for holidays and celebrations—a way to stimulate the animals by mimicking the kind of feeding they’d enjoy in the wild (and it’s pretty fun for us humans, too).

Thanksgiving Pie for Gibbons

Zoo Animal Birthday Cake
Siamangs Bradley and Ronnie with one of their favorite treats: pumpkin pie. Photograph by Skip Brown, Smithsonian National Zoological Park.

During the holidays, keepers present siamangs Bradley and Ronnie with traditional treats. These small apes don’t eat turkey or stuffing, but when Thanksgiving arrives, they love to scarf down pumpkin pie. There’s no whipped cream here, alas: The zoo prepares a special nondairy, sugar-free version with a crust made of vegetarian primate chow.

 

Halloween “Candy” for Lemurs

National Zoo Birthday Cakes
A black-and-white ruffed lemur. Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

If you think Ibiza is a party, you’ve never been to Lemur Island—the zoo’s special habitat where ring-tailed lemurs Bowie, Tom Petty, Southside Johnny, and their crew hang out. Come Halloween, they can’t keep their paws off an organic pumpkin that staffers fill with grapes, blueberries, and diced apples—all served on a bed of greens.

 

Valentines for Tigers

The look of tiger love. Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

If you’re an amorous big cat, nothing says “my bloody Valentine” like a frozen pop made from horse and beef blood, along with cattle femurs for gnawing. These treats can also keep the cats cool on hot days, and is part of a nutrionally complete diet. In other words, purr-fection.

 

Birthday Cake for Lions 

Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

It’s a blood bath! A few years ago, the zoo’s seven lion cubs celebrated their birthdays with a bloodsicle cake in the shape of the number “1.” The massive treat weighed about 50 pounds and was fashioned from ice water, two whole cow femurs, five pounds of shaved beef, and a half-gallon of cow blood. 

 

Beefy Birthday for Leopards

Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

“Clouded Leopard Beef Cake” may sound like a rock band, but it’s a special treat at the zoo! Male clouded leopards Ta Moon (“Mischievous Child”) and Sa Ming (“Brave Warrior”) celebrated their first birthday with a cake made out of ice with frozen bamboo leaves inside, plus a ground beef cake topper. 

Photograph courtesy of Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

A version of this story appears in the November 2022 issue of Washingtonian.

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Anna Spiegel
Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.