Happy Halloween

October 31, 2015 9:40 AM

Elephants pulverize giant pumpkins during 2015 Squishing of the Squash
posted by jaguar (20 comments total)

Elephants are really mysterious to me. I don't know how to interpret what they're doing there. I hope they were having fun.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:19 AM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]

I'm pretty sure they were having fun, or at least enjoying the yummy squash. The description on the video (which I probably should have posted) reads:

Lily and the elephant family stomped, smashed and munched their way through two gigantic pumpkins at the Oregon Zoo's annual Squishing of the Squash today.
The two gourdzillas - the largest of which topped 1,100 pounds - were provided by Larry and Christy Nelson of Pacific Northwest Giant Vegetable Growers.

posted by jaguar at 10:22 AM on October 31, 2015

The one elephant sitting on Pumpkin A so as to have a better vantage point for Pumpkin B is my patronus.
posted by Sara C. at 10:37 AM on October 31, 2015 [7 favorites]

And I love how the younger elephant is all about playing with his food before he/she eats it. Some parts of childhood are universal, no matter the species.
posted by Fizz at 10:40 AM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]

"A story always sounds clear enough at a distance, but the nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes."

-George Orwell, 'Shooting an Elephant'
posted by clavdivs at 10:43 AM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

This feels very Portland somehow
posted by angrycat at 12:11 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

I don't know how these people got their elephants in a pumpkin, or why...
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:13 PM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]

Nothing to add on the elephants in particular, but this post did send me on a Wikipedia journey where I learned that the record-setting giant pumpkins are a species called Cucurbita maxima, while ordinary jack-o'-lantern pumpkins are actually a different species, C. pepo.
posted by tss at 12:21 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

Elephants too? I thought it was only the big cats that enjoyed disembowling pumpkins on Halloween. Is there anything pumpkins can't improve?
posted by Bee'sWing at 12:30 PM on October 31, 2015

Not only cats and elephants.
posted by Wolfdog at 1:02 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

It would have nice if they could have provided a tablecloth or lawn. Sand is not any specie's idea of pumpkin spice. Or so I would imagine.
posted by y2karl at 1:45 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

This is totally a thing! Here in DC, the National Zoo has been posting photos of various species enjoying their "enrichment pumpkins" all week. (Come for the pumpkins, stay for the STINKING ADORABLE baby panda shots.)
posted by bowtiesarecool at 2:21 PM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]

The San Diego Zoo's Galapagos tortoises got a jack-o-lantern.
posted by jaguar at 2:35 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's food you can sit on, and I'm down with that.
posted by stargell at 2:45 PM on October 31, 2015 [1 favorite]

The little guy was Very Committed to destroying that pumpkin while everyone else stands around shuffling their trunks seriously and averting their eyes, trying to maintain the illusion that elephants are dignified and mysterious.
posted by ChuraChura at 2:50 PM on October 31, 2015 [8 favorites]

Fuck it, that pumpkin is going down!!!!
posted by eriko at 6:47 PM on October 31, 2015

I love the name of this event.
posted by JHarris at 10:00 PM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]

The Houston Zoo tried putting a pumpkin in their giraffe yard. The giraffes were not pleased.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:13 AM on November 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

How do giraffes express their displeasure with pumpkins?
posted by ChuraChura at 6:44 AM on November 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

They turn up their noses on a whole other level.
posted by y2karl at 3:43 PM on November 1, 2015 [2 favorites]