Aspinall Gorillas Receive Edible Garden

The Western lowland gorillas had a bit of a treat the other day, when the gardening team at the Howletts Park decked out their home with a delicious selection of  leafy treats in the form of an edible garden. The Aspinall Foundation team took the time to transform the large gorilla enclosure with a wide selection of sunflowers, apples, runner beans and bamboo to choose from, all cut from within the Howletts Park.

The park currently houses 12 gorillas, and they were over the moon to discover their new edible house. The keepers were not exactly sure how they would take to the new decorations, but with that much food on show I think anyone would be happy. It must have been a bit like when Hansel and Gretal discovered the house make of sweets, but the Gorilla version!

Head Gardener at Howletts, David Sutton, said –

The idea for the gorilla garden came to us when we had to cut back a large banana plant for the winter as it had grown unmanageably tall. The idea was then expanded to use the sunflowers that we have grown for their seed heads and some of the herbs that we grow to form a regular part of the animals diets. I decided that if we were going to do it we may as well do it properly and go to town with providing a great experience for the gorillas and an opportunity for the team to do something a little out of the ordinary.

Surprise, surprise, the gorillas ignored all the flowers and went straight in for the fruit, with the banana leaves going down particularly well. I wish someone would come round to my house and build it out of food, maybe a massive Walkers crisp with windows!