Boo at the Zoo, a Beary Sweet Tradition, Is Back This Fall

Have you eaten, sipped, crunched, quaffed, and snacked upon just about an entire patch of pumpkins in the last few weeks?

It can feel that way as September starts, if you're the sort of person who is first in line for a Pumpkin Spiced Latte on the first day it is released.

Pumpkin drinks, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin candy, and any item that's tangentially related to the festive fall foodstuff: You've enjoyed them all.

But let's be real here: You'll never go after a pumpkin-flavored treat the way a bear goes after an actual pumpkin. There is a notable amount of gnashing, pawing, and big-jaw'd devouring, and we humans, as much as we obsess over our seasonal sweets, just can't compete.

If you need proof to back up this not-so-controversial statement, you only need call upon the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens on a Saturday or Sunday this October. For Boo at the Zoo will return after a year away, which means lots of animals gnashing and/or noshing upon all sorts of autumnal eats, foods that just happen to be good for them, too.

Which does include, you guessed it, pumpkins. The globular fruits can get flat, fast, under the paws of a peckish zoo resident like a bear or hippopotamus, to the delight of any human watching the seedy spectacle.

Admiring beasties biting down on flavorful pumpkins is only part of the Boo at the Zoo's big charms. There are also plenty of not-too-eeky photo opportunities, Halloween decorations to ooh/aah over, and activities that will pop-up on the weekends.

Those include the aforementioned animal feedings, cool crafts, and other eerie events.

And the graveyard focusing on extinct animals? For sure, there's an important educational component, one that puts the emphasis on conservation.

Oh yes, and if you visit over October's final two weekends? There shall be trick-or-treating, so ask the tots to don their costumes for the outdoor fun.

All of these fall-fun joys are included with zoo admission.