The feeding tour gave visitors a chance to see the animals exhibit some of the foraging, hunting and other feeding behaviors normally seen only by zookeepers.

At the Elephant Encounter arena, a 624-pound pumpkin sat propped up against a supporting beam. The crowd fell quiet as the first elephant, Misha, emerged, walked over to the pumpkin, felt it with her tusk, and daintily broke off a piece and placed it in her mouth.

The next elephant was not as well-mannered. Hy Dari, the matriarch of the zoo's African elephant clan, burst out of the enclosure, her tail swinging wildly, went straight for the pumpkin and stomped on it. The crowd laughed, and children jumped up and down with excitement.

Eve, the Bornean orangutan, demonstrated that picky eaters are found throughout the animal kingdom when she dumped out her entire bowl and picked out only what she wanted. Eli, the male orangutan, carefully picked food in his bowl with delicacy and precision, while Acara, the baby girl, showed little interest in food, bouncing around, poking her mother and swinging from the ropes.

Zoo regulars Kenneth and Emily Kligmann and their children, Josiah, Julianna and Joelle, enjoyed the orangutans.

"We have been watching the baby orangutan grow up," Emily said.

Julianna said her favorite animals are the elephants, while Josiah loved the bears. Little Joelle would only smile shyly.

Outside the Great Apes building, Steve and Tracy Black and their five children lined up in front of a gorilla silhouette, the words "Do you measure up?" just visible above Steve's head. The Blacks enjoyed seeing the white alligators catch their prey of dead rabbits and mice.

"The kids were just glued to the glass," Tracy said.

The Amur leopard also stalked his dinner, though it was not live prey. Keepers placed it in a tree in the enclosure, giving the leopard a challenge before he could dine. He came into the enclosure and paced, smelling the meat. He eventually knocked it to the ground and began digging in, barely glancing at his appreciative and loud audience.

Practically swallowed by the big wooden chairs outside the Zootique store were three boys, their mouths blue from eating cotton candy.

Brothers Seth, Joel and Liam Forsberg were quick to share their favorite events. Joel liked the white alligators. Seth loved the elephants, while Liam's favorite was eating cotton candy.