Spooked giraffes, zebras and ostriches at Dallas Zoo freak out during solar eclipse

While Americans gazed in amazement at Monday’s total solar eclipse, many of the animals at Dallas Zoo were somewhat spooked by the spectacular.

Footage shows giraffes, zebras and ostriches running around in circles as total darkness fell over the zoo on 8 April.

The Zoo offered a special eclipse event and had staff stationed around the park to talk about how the animals reacted to the once-in-a-lifetime event.

Birds could be seen returning to their perches to nest, thinking it was nighttime while penguins huddled close together.

Not all the animals were phased, as the elephants acted completely normal and tucked into their food.