Animal keepers are getting ready for “hairy but not too scary” Halloween at the London Zoo during the school half-term break.

They’ve prepared a Boo at the Zoo programme for youngsters at the Regent’s Park complex for making bat masks in arts and crafts sessions, learning about endangered fruit bats known as ‘flying foxes’ in London’s only living rainforest.  

The zoo is setting up a Ghoul School for curious young minds to learn from conservation scientists.

Children can ask burning questions about wildlife, throw spell-binding conservation pledges into the witches’ cauldron or watch a UV puppet show about the weird creatures of the deep sea and why they must be protected.  

There is a sad “animal extinction graveyard” learning how the Dodo, Quagga and Siberian Unicorn were driven to extinction — and how to make sure Sumatran tigers, Western lowland gorillas and other threatened species don’t go the same way.  

The zoo is also laying on fearsome face painting, monstrous marshmallow toasting and petrifying pumpkin painting.

Children under three go free. Tickets can be booked online on the zoo’s “londonzoo.org” website.