19 November 2025
The Twelve Animals of Christmas at Whipsnade Zoo
Santa Paws is coming to Whipsnade Zoo this Christmas, and we're inviting you to take part in our festive trail to discover our twelve animals of Christmas.
From African lions and Southern white rhinos, to flamingos and maras, see if you can find all twelve! Here are the animals you're looking to find - when you find them make sure you scan the QR code to unlock a special Christmas video to learn fun facts and enjoy Christmas cracker jokes. The trail is open from 22 November to 24 December 2025.
Grab a video of each animal on the trail and make your very own iteration of our 12 animals of Christmas video! We've recorded original audio of our animal-themed carol and would love to see you all use the audio on your social channels for your very own version. You can find the audio to use, in-platform, here:
Twelve Penguins Parading
It's penguin-ing to look a lot like Christmas! And on a frosty day, Whipsnade transforms into a winter wonderland, with the penguins getting the best view of the tree tops glistening across the Downs.
We're home to both African black-footed and rockhopper penguins, and they're charismatic ambassadors for wildlife. You can show your love for our penguins and help them have a very Hoppy Christmas by donating a festive dinner!
Choose a starter, main, dessert, full three-course meal or a family feast and share the festive cheer! As a thank you for your donation, we'll send you a printable certificate - it'll arrive in your inbox straight away after you donate, so is a great gift idea if you're struggling for inspiration.
So what's on the menu for our penguins this year?
A starter of the finest calamari.
A fresh fishy feast of sprats, mackerel and sardines for main course.
And crunchy crustaceans for dessert.
Sounds delicious. And what's even better is that this year, your gift goes twice as far: every donation will be matched by a generous supporter*, so one meal becomes two!
*Donations to our Festive Dinners appeal will be doubled by a generous donor up to a total of £10,000.
Eleven Pupfish Paddling
Whipsnade Zoo is a conservation zoo, and next on our trail is our Aquarium, a hub for global conservation. It's home to Critically Endangered and Extinct-in-the-Wild species from around the world, including the Boxer, Potosi, La Palma and Charco Palma pupfish. These Mexican pupfish only exist under expert human care in zoos or aquariums, and their future is entirely in our hands.
Extinct doesn't have to mean lost forever. At ZSL, we’re working with partners to learn more about these fascinating fish, breed them at Whipsnade Zoo, and ultimately reintroduce them back into the wild again. And funds from every Zoo ticket are helping to support our vital work.
Want to learn more? Book onto a behind-the-scenes tour of the Aquarium to delve deeper into the secrets that go into breeding some of the world's rarest species. Just one of many experiences on offer at Whipsnade Zoo.
Ten Lions Lounging
Lounging is what lions do best - they can sleep for up to 20 hours a day! We've had a hugely exciting year with the birth of seven North African lion cubs, a massive boost to the conservation breeding programme for the Vulnerable species. Named by both local school children and donors, visitors have loved watching the cubs snuggling up with their mums, exploring their paddock, play fighting in the sunshine, and clambering all over their dad.
You can watch our Zoo babies grow up and visit them as often as you like for a whole year with a membership. This Christmas, share the joy of adventure with a Gift Zoo Membership - now 20% off until 5 January 2026. Enjoy a year of magical days out, at both Whipsnade Zoo and London Zoo, all while supporting vital wildlife conservation.
Nine Rhinos Running
Up next on our festive trail is our 'crash' of nine Southern white rhinos, including two calves born last year, Khulu and Benja. They celebrated their first Christmas in 2024 with huge presents filled with their favourite snacks.
White rhinos are the largest rhino species, weighing up to 2.3 tonnes - heavier than a car! They're difficult to miss, and you'll often find them hanging out by our View Point Cafe, or further along opposite our cosy wooden lodges.
Did you know you could sleep over at the Zoo in these lodges? Enjoy an overnight stay with a difference and find out what happens at the Zoo after-dark with three exclusive private tours, dinner, bed and breakfast and two days zoo entry included. And don't forget, Gold members get 10% off of all our experiences.
Eight Rare Breeds
Our Hullabazoo children's farm is home to a variety of breeds of goats and sheep, and this year we were lucky enough to welcome calf Petal, an 'At Risk' Shetland cow, born to mum Poppy. She's an important addition to the rare breed, and can be seen out in her paddock with her mum.
Next to our children's farm is our outdoor play area - complete with The Mini Rangers: Driving Adventure** and our immersive Virtual Reality experiences**. And we also have an indoor soft play area, which is perfect on a cold winter's day.
Entry to our Hullabazoo indoor play, is by pre-booking only and you can book 24 hours in advance, so you can then plan your visit around your time slot.
**Additional charges and terms and conditions apply
Seven Monkeys Swinging
Next, head over to Monkey Forest, our newest animal habitat, which opened in 2024. Home to a troop of Sulawesi crested macaques and François’s langurs, they're some of our most playful and fascinating animals to watch at the Zoo. The monkeys are often swinging, climbing, and chasing each other, so it's a lively experience to see them.
Monkey Forest is a multi-species habitat, and you'll find some of East Asia's rarest animals, like the anoa, living alongside our primates. With both indoor and outdoor viewing spots along the trail, and plenty of interactive areas, there's so much to explore.
Six Roaming Maras
We're home to free-roaming animals at Whipsnade, including our wallabies and maras. Look out for them during your winter walk, their favourite places to hang out are in between our greater one-horned rhinos and elephants, close to our railway and children's farm, in amongst the trees just past our wolverines and near our Woodland Walk.
Whipsnade Zoo is the largest Zoo in the UK, with stunning views, plenty of refreshment stops, and native wildlife to look out for in addition to our Zoo residents.
Top tip: See if there's a Walk of the Week on the day of your visit for your chance to meet other like-minded Zoo visitors and find out more about the Zoo from an expert guide.
Five Flamingos
Brighten up your winter visit with our flamingos. You'll notice some of our 'flamboyance' of flamingos aren't quite as brightly coloured as the others, and have a grey tinge. This is because they're younger than the others.
Chicks start off fluffy and grey and gradually get their beautiful pink colour within their first 2-3 years of life, depending on their diet. This pink hue is linked to carotenoids, natural pigments found in algae and tiny crustaceans.
Fun fact: Both male and female flamingo parents feed their fluffy, grey chicks with bright red 'crop milk', which is produced in their digestive tract, and is rich in fats, protein and carotenoids. Incredibly, you can usually spot the new parents in a group, because they give so much of their own pigment to their chicks that they almost turn white!
Four Long Necks (Giraffes)
Next on our festive trail are the tallest animals at the Zoo, our giraffes. At Whipsnade, we're home to a family of endangered reticulated giraffes, including a female calf born on 18 November! The precious newborn is doing really well and is building up her strength in the warmth of the indoor dens, with mum Luna.
The little one joins her teenage siblings, Myra and Timba, who had some extra special Christmas treats last year and enjoyed breakfast in giant stockings! So we'll see what Santa brings this year.
We love sharing festive fun with our animals, and of course with our visitors. Children can visit Santa in his magical grotto in our Meet Santa experience, or why not upgrade to an Animal Gift-Giving session for some added sparkle? Enjoy a scatter feed with our wild boar or European bison* then make and deliver Santa sacks and presents to our wolverines or ring-tailed lemurs*!
*Animal species for Animal Gift-Giving experiences are subject to availability on the day.
Three Elephants
You're likely to find our Asian elephants in their back sand paddock or inside their warm and cosy Centre for Elephant Care over the winter months.
If you love elephants and want to make your visit even more special, you can book the ultimate Meet the Elephants experience! This is your chance to go behind-the-scenes of our amazing elephant house where you will get the chance to feed an elephant and find out all about our herd from an expert keeper. Limited spaces remaining for this year, so book today - and remember that Gold members get 10% off of our experiences.
Two Hiding Cheetahs
Feline festive yet? See if you can spot our cheetah duo in our newly revamped Cheetah Rock habitat. And if you happen to be visiting us on 4 December, it's International Cheetah Day! So join us for an extra special talk and a cheetah feed to help us celebrate.
Did you know, Whipsnade Zoo was the first in the world to successfully breed cheetahs, back in 1967! We continue to work to protect them, both here in the Zoo and in the wild.
Cheetahs can't roar as they don't have a floating hyoid bone in their neck like other big cats. But they do make lots of other noises, like churrs and purrs, growls and yowls, yips and chirps.
10 things you didn't know about cheetahs
A Red Panda in an Oak Tree
And our final animal of Christmas is the red panda. We're actually home to a family of red pandas, mum Ruby, dad Nilo, and their cub Hattie, who was born in June 2025 and is a vital addition to the conservation breeding programme for the Endangered species.
Love red pandas? Our red panda gift collection in our online shop includes cute red panda stationery, cuddly red panda soft toys, pin badges and more! Plus, you can adopt the red pandas and each animal adoption can be personalised for the perfect present this Christmas, a meaningful gift that directly supports our vital conservation work.
