SECOND SLICE: WHICH ANIMALS LOVE WATERMELON THE MOST?

You’d be hard-pressed to find an animal that didn’t like watermelon. Its combination of sweetness and juiciness make it an ideal snack for just about any living creature (except goldfish… mine don’t seem to care for it). But there’s one animal that will go to great lengths to get its hands on some watermelon, and that’s the raccoon.

Turns out, raccoons are capable of carving a hole in the side of a watermelon and then scooping out the entire contents with their paws, leaving only a hollow rind. At right is the handiwork of one hungry bandit. Of course, this tactic makes the raccoon a nuisance to some, but for those of us reading about it here, it sounds pretty darn clever! (I’m sure our resident farming expert, Josh, would disagree.)

Speaking of animals loving watermelons, below is video of elephants being fed whole watermelons at a zoo. Skip ahead to the 1:30 mark to watch Asali the elephant gulp down a rather large watermelon for her birthday. Once she gets it cracked open, she really seems to enjoy it and it’s neat how she uses her trunk to work the watermelon around in her mouth.