Hot Giraffe Slurps Iced Treat in British Park

At the Phoenix Zoo they call them “bloodsicles,” “fishsicles,” or just “frozen food.” In UK zoos “ice lollies” are on the menu. In Spain the celebrity giant panda Bing Xing (which means “star of ice”) slurps watermelon popsicles.

The frozen treats are one way to keep captive animals cool in times of blisteringly hot temperatures, like now. Zoos all over the world are extending extra care to chill their residents – with frozen treats, water sprinklers, cool baths, air conditioning, whatever it takes. Many zoos – like Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England – are shutting down for a few days so that staff can devote all their attention to their charges. 

The UK will likely set new all-time highs today as thermometers hit three digit temps all over the country. At the Exotic Zoo Wildlife Park in Telford, “we're making loads of tasty ice lollies with mealworms in, with bits of fruit or meats,” zoo director Scott Adams told BBC. “It's interactive engagement for them."

At Longleat Safari Park in Wiltshire, monkeys are engaged interactively with monkey-seed ice lollies, while the giraffes placidly lap at the specially-prepared banana, carrot and willow ice blocks. "It is a bit of an operation to hoist them up to the right height, but it was definitely worth the effort," said zoo spokesperson Ian Turner.

Some zoos are assuring us that their animals can handle the heat. “The vast majority of animals here at the Zoo can safely thrive in extreme temperatures,” says the Phoenix Zoo. Still, the zoo deploys misters to keep monkeys and elephants cool, sprinklers for their savanna habitats, mud wallows for tortoises and warty pigs, and cold-water pipes under the rocks where tigers lounge. “The orangutans even have air-conditioned day rooms they can choose to spend time in!”

Cool.

Photo credit: Longleat Safari Park