Zoo honours ‘obscure and mysterious’ wildlife in festive light display
Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a tardigrade, would it?
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.
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.
Obscure and mysterious wildlife of ZooLights: a thread pic.twitter.com/jFRoq7qsSO
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) December 18, 2018
Tardigrade
Tardigrade, or water bear if you like pic.twitter.com/r91kK7O3iF
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) December 18, 2018
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
MacFarland’s chromodorid, a nudibranch pic.twitter.com/WFxv7NikrO
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) December 18, 2018
This sea slug is seldom featured in Christmas displays, despite its colourful exterior.
Blobfish
Blobfish, the gelatinous bottom-feeder of Octonauts fame pic.twitter.com/ooKzPHrsEy
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) December 18, 2018
The notoriously ugly blobfish at last gets the starring role in Oregon Zoo’s Christmas display.
Scotoplanes
Scotoplanes aka sea-pig, a deep-sea sea cucumber pic.twitter.com/djghJn5kwJ
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) December 18, 2018
It’s a deep-sea sea cucumber of course – what could possibly be more festive?
Axlotl
Axlotl, a salamander that resembles a larvae as an adult pic.twitter.com/KV6wIQ4Mfz
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) December 18, 2018
What more could you ask for at the most wonderful time of the year than a bright and shining axlotl?
Caecilian
Caecilian, a limbless amphibian pic.twitter.com/FRW1NPHVCo
— Oregon Zoo (@OregonZoo) December 18, 2018
And finally, as green as a Christmas tree, it’s the caecilian.
Merry Christmas!
PA Media
