Wildlife zoo prepares holiday feast for animal family

Guangzhou (CNS) -- The Xiangjiang Wildlife Zoo in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, prepared a lavish feast for its animal families on Thursday, as the traditional Lantern Festival draws near.

Breeders and nutritionists blended an ideal match of ingredients for the repast, such as sticky rice, eggs, sugar and grains into the traditional holiday specialty of Tangyuan (or Yuanxiao) balls, supplemented with rounded apple and carrot sections.

Elephants, ponies, alpacas and parrots were smacking their lips, or beaks, as the case might be, and two clever apes bit off a sliver of Tangyuan rice skin and sucked out the sweet filling with apparent delight.

On Sunday, February 5, 100 lucky netizens will have the honor of making dumplings to serve the lovely animals virtually - by means of following the zoo's Weibo connection and forwarding the message on the activity to three friends.

A trio of the zoo's talented chimpanzees will treat the assembled audience to a dragon dance number, in stylish costumes with the appropriate gestures, which definitely promises to be an amusing show.

From February 6 to 14 the zoo will hold a special celebration to mark the upcoming Valentine's Day, which will be open to all zoo visitors.