Animals Beat the Heat by Splooting. How About You?

Perhaps you’ve seen a squirrel, spread-eagled and flat on the ground, motionless. He’s fine, he’s just “splooting,” that weird, limbs akimbo pose assumed by some mammals to beat the heat.

“They're trying to find a cool space,” Sunny Corrao of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation tells WPR. “And if they can put as much of their core body on to a cool space, then the heat is going to transfer from their bodies to the other surface. So in the case of squirrels, you'll often see them maybe on a shady sidewalk, or a park path, or in the grass, just splayed out."

It’s not just the squirrels. Dogs sploot, too. Even bears have been observed to plop down their full girth to the ground, seeking the sweet relief of cool earth on a hot day. Unlike humans, who sweat to cool off, these furry animals need outside help to lower their temperature. While splooting is a natural behavior, the technique might be an inadequate cooling mechanism as the climate warms.

This summer animals are up against more than just heat. There’s also a lot of smoke in the air, wafting from the out-of-control wildfires currently blazing across Canada. (Yet another issue exacerbated by climate change.) Not great for animals in the wild and not good for our domesticated furballs at home.

Your pets will tell you when the smoke is getting to them, with obvious symptoms like coughing, difficulty breathing, watery eyes; and less obvious ones like nasal discharge, lethargy or disorientation, and reduced appetite. 

When the air quality is bad, keep pets inside with the windows shut and a/c on; outdoor bathroom breaks should be brief, and hold off on any intense exercise until the air clears. Under adverse conditions, splooting should be indoors only.

Photo credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department