A sea cucumber and a blobfish might not be the embodiment of festive cheer, but that hasn’t stopped an American zoo from featuring them in its Christmas light display.
Oregon Zoo’s annual ZooLights display includes plenty of fairy lights and shooting stars, as well as appropriately wintry animals like penguins.
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
But nestled away amid the more conventional items are a few you might not expect, all designed in-house by “ZooLights artisans”.
The zoo highlighted a few of the more unusual stars of the lightshow in a Twitter thread.
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
Tardigrade
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
The tardigrade, also known as a water bear, is a microscopic, eight-legged animal which is around 0.5mm when fully grown.
MacFarland’s chromodorid
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
This sea slug is seldom featured in Christmas displays, despite its colourful exterior.
Blobfish
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
The notoriously ugly blobfish at last gets the starring role in Oregon Zoo’s Christmas display.
Scotoplanes
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
It’s a deep-sea sea cucumber of course – what could possibly be more festive?
Axlotl
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
What more could you ask for at the most wonderful time of the year than a bright and shining axlotl?
Caecilian
We need your consent to load this Social Media content
We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.
And finally, as green as a Christmas tree, it’s the caecilian.