Ice cream and baths: How zoo animals cool off in the heat

As temperatures soar, zoos are implementing creative strategies to help their animals beat the heat. Zookeepers are ensuring animals have access to cool resting spots and water, with many enclosures featuring pools or streams. Some animals even enjoy playing with sprinklers.

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The most important thing in the heat is that the animals can lie in cooler places to regulate their body temperature and have shade under bushes and trees.

Frozen treats are a popular way to keep animals comfortable and engaged. Predators receive frozen meat, seals get frozen fish, and pigs are given frozen vegetables. These icy snacks not only cool the animals but also encourage natural foraging behaviors, as they have to work to access their food. This "ice cream" approach is particularly appreciated by carnivores and dolphins.

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Then there is in most enclosures some form of pool or watercourse they can cool off in. Some animals also like to bathe in sprinklers.

Beyond direct interventions, many species possess natural adaptations for hot weather. Bears, for instance, are known to take their frozen treats into water holes to cool off. Animals like elk, wolverines, and lynx are more active during dawn and dusk. Pigs utilize mud as a natural sunscreen, while giraffes have a unique physiological adaptation: blood vessels beneath their spots help regulate body temperature by dissipating heat.

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It is a way to give them an outlet for their natural behaviors, they have to work harder for their food, but it also cools them down, so we do it a little more often now that it is so hot.