Zoo Watch: Thousands of LEGO bricks go into constructing animals

The Great Brick Safari at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo - picture by Hillary Childs (Image: Archant)

You’ll be bricking it at Whipsnade Zoo this Easter, with a menagerie of assorted animals recreated in LEGO.

The Great Brick Safari offers the chance to get up and close and personal with wildlife expertly constructed using hundreds and thousands of the toy bricks.

The creations include meerkats, kangaroos, panda cubs, penguins, scorpions and spiders.

Among the highlights are a mammoth one tonne elephant called Earl Grey, which took six experts 1,600 hours to create from 271,739 LEGO bricks, silverback Gorman the gorilla who was a 480-hour construction, and Linus the lion, who took 65,440 bricks to build.

The Great Brick Safari at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo - picture by Hillary Childs (Image: Archant)

The Great Brick Safari Trail features various fun activities, and pop-up safari tours offer fascinating facts about the animals. Kids can wrap up their experience with a visit to the Brick Pits, where they can let their imaginations loose and build their own favourite creatures.

The Great Brick Safari at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo - picture by Hillary Childs (Image: Archant)

The Great Brick Safari at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo - picture by Hillary Childs (Image: Archant)

The Great Brick Safari at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo - picture by Hillary Childs (Image: Archant)

The Great Brick Safari at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo - picture by Hillary Childs (Image: Archant)