FarmVille Mardi Gras Animals: Carnival Horse, Carnival Foal, and Carnival Pig

A trio of new Mardi Gras themed animals were released as part of tonight's FarmVille update, with two of these being available in the game's store. These two animals are the Carnival Horse and the Carnival Pig, both of which are unfortunately only available for Farm Cash.

First, the Carnival Pig costs 18 Farm Cash, and can be harvested from once every two days. You'll gain 1800 experience points for purchasing it. Meanwhile, the Carnival Horse costs more at 26 Farm Cash. You'll gain 2600 experience points for spending more on the horse, which can be harvested every three days; that is, unless you place it inside the Horse Stable, where it can be harvested once daily. This is also the way to create the third animal in the game - the Carnival Foal - as you'll have a chance of breeding a foal when you have the Horse and a Stallion in your Horse Stable.

Remember though - as exciting as it might be to breed this horse to create a foal will only be sharable to your friends, and you won't actually get to keep one of your own. To have a Carnival Foal on your own land, you'll need to look out for wall posts from friends that have bred their own horses and received one at random.

Both the Carnival Horse and Carnival Pig will be available in the game's store for the next two weeks, while of course the Carnival Foal will continue to be available for long after.

Which of these two animals is your favorite? Do you think either is worth the high Farm Cash price?

FarmVille Mother's Day Animals: Kangaroo & Joey, Polar Bear Cub

While they may not immediately scream "Mother's Day" at first glance, two new animals have been added to FarmVille's equally new Mother's Day item theme, and they come in the form of the Kangaroo & Joey (both for the price of one!) and the Polar Bear Cub. So, how do these animals relate to Mother's Day? The Kangaroo & Joey is the more easily explainable item, as it clearly shows a mother protecting her baby - something that most of us can relate to from our childhoods. For the Polar Bear Cub, I think the connection is a bit more abstract. Perhaps this is a way for us to adopt a Polar Bear Cub and serve as its virtual mother?

Either way, these two items are cute as can be, but come at a high price point. The Kangaroo & Joey is surprisingly the cheaper of the two items, at 16 Farm Cash, while the Polar Bear Cub (which happens to be a re-released item from the Earth Day event of 2010) costs 22 Farm Cash. Luckily, this is the same price as when the cub was first released, so at least Zynga didn't pull a fast one on us there. Also, for those with a keen eye - yes, a Kangaroo was also released during the Earth Day event last year, but that was a solo Kangaroo (sans Joey), so they are technically different items.
If you plan on purchasing either one of these animals, you'll need to do so quickly, as the Mother's Day theme is set to expire from the store in just a week. Will we see more items released in the theme before all is said and done? We're not sure, but we'll make sure to let you know if we do.

Let us know what you think of these animals in the comments. Do you think they fit properly with a Mother's Day theme? What animals would have been better suited to celebrate a bond between a mother and her child?