As area residents scramble to beat the heat with air conditioning, fans and bottled water, animals at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore are hardly breaking a sweat.
“Animals are a lot smarter than people when it comes to the heat,” zoo spokeswoman Lainie Contreras said. “With humans, we feel like no matter what the weather is, we want to be outside doing things. With animals, they just want to take it easy.”
Tuesday?s downpour offered the animals at the zoo a short reprieve fromthe mid-Atlantic?s recent blast of heat, but when temperatures spike, Contreras said, the animals stay cool the same way as many humans: by drinking plenty of water and staying in the shade.
If zookeepers find that an animal is getting too hot, they also have the option of moving the creature to cooler, indoor areas away from the public.
Many of the animals living at the zoo are native to sub-Saharan Africa, where temperatures can far exceed Baltimore?s highs. On Tuesday, the zoo?s South African penguins appeared equally unfazed by the heat and the claps of thunder signaling the approaching storm.
The zoo?s elephants, meanwhile, often enjoy a cool hose-down from zookeepers on hot days, allowing the gray giants to give themselves mud baths. Another of the zoo?s marquis mammals, the polar bear, hails from a much colder climate. While the bears on display have become largely accustomed to Baltimore?s temperatures, they are occasionally treated to icy indulgences to relieve them from the sultry air.
“Sometimes on hot days, we?ll give the animals ice treats,” Contreras said. These can consist of frozen layers of Gatorade, Romaine lettuce, fish, lard and other animal favorites.
Zookeepers also place large blocks of ice in the indoor section of the polar bear exhibit from time to time, offering the animals a little piece of home.
Kristen Vitug, who took her 3-year-old son Damien, to see the zoo?s tiger exhibit Tuesday, said she didn?t envy the animals.
“We?re from Colorado, so it?s super hot to us,” Vitug said.
