So how do you get a tiger into the pool? (Answer: carefully!)
Humans have ways to cool off in the heat, but what about the animal kingdom? Our girl takes a trip to Dublin Zoo to see how they do it...
SO how do you stop an elephant getting sunburnt? And why are the orangutans at Dublin Zoo performing a weird high-wire act?
James Creighton, zookeeper in the gorilla section at Dublin Zoo, has red hair and needs a baseball cap and factor 50 suncream to cope in the heat — much like the pink Tamworth pig that once called the zoo home, he jokes.
‘I’ve adapted after millions of years to avoid the sun, but the vast majority of the animals really enjoy the spell of good weather,’ he says. ‘Humans are the silliest species because we seek out and lie in the sun, but most animals don’t risk getting sunburn and they don’t care about getting a tan.’
Here James lets us in on the tips and tricks zookeepers use to keep residents cool as the temperatures soar — and the animals’ own ingenious ways of beating the heat.
From ice lollies made out of blood to elephants mixing up their own secret suncream recipe, these guys really have it sussed.
GORILLAS GO BANANAS FOR ICE POPS
GIGANTIC ice pops have been keeping the hairy gorillas cool during the heatwave — and they can’t get enough of the cold treats. James reveals the recipe all his gorillas are going bananas about: ‘We freeze large blocks in recycled yoghurt tubs with a tiny dash of blackcurrant cordial or orange — they love them and it’s a real novelty.’
Another big hit is jazzing up ice pops — which animals like the red panda also love, with chopped carrots and celery. ‘It’s like an ice pop but it also cools their hands,’ James says. ‘They love it and don’t get it all year round.’
Of course, the gorillas are no fools. Although all residents were born in zoos, they have millions of years of evolutionary know-how built into their DNA so they know not to exert too much energy in the heat.
James describes the gorilla section as a lush green paradise with hundreds of species of sheltering plants and natural vegetation, all growing at different heights, so there are plenty of shady options — just like the gorillas’ native habitats in dense tropical forests.
The gorilla section at Dublin Zoo was designed to mimic this environment, with oak trees, horse chestnuts and bushy willows as well as variegated laurel trees that grow outwards, all working to cast a lot of shadow — great for keeping the hairy dwellers cool.
James says: ‘We’ve created large mounds and valleys on the island so the gorillas can get shade, relax and stay out of the midday sun — and away from the public, if they so choose. They seek shelter. They lie down and relax, chill and find the shade, and we’ve built an environment to give them those choices. It’s a natural lush green in full bloom with lots of shady areas.’
PAMPERED ELEPHANTS WHO PACK MORE THAN THEIR TRUNKS
WE ALL know elephants are a brainy bunch... but concocting their own sunblock? According to James, elephants love nothing better than to pamper themselves, especially when the mercury rises.
Elephants adore the water and spend hours in the wild hanging out at watering holes and giving themselves mud baths. But there’s more to this behaviour than just having fun or cooling down.
James explains how the elephants are hosed down regularly with a water canon, which triggers a cycle of natural pampering and self-care antics. It’s the same routine with the other pachyderms, such as rhinos and hippos.
‘When you wet their skin and the sun dries it, it gets itchy so they do sand bathing and roll in it for a real pampering session.’
Zookeepers fill ‘wallows’ — similar to naturally occurring water holes in the wild — with water and 10 tonnes of nutrient-rich clay to create a gloopy mud bath. They’re just like the mud baths you’d find at a beauty spa. The elephants while away hours there, applying their face and body packs.
‘After a wash with the water canon, they have a mud bath and then they throw clay on their bodies. They have thick, spiky hair on their backs so when they throw up clay and sand on themselves, it gets stuck. It dries on their skin and acts as a natural sun block, and helps with horsefly bites and other nips.’
Wallows, which are like gigantic paddling pools, are crucial to helping the elephants bond as a close family group — much like kids playing in the paddling pool on a sunny day.
‘We’ve 12 elephants and they’re very close, with aunties and uncles and cousins, so it’s a real social gathering around the wallow, where they spend hours bathing and throwing muck up on their backs,’ says James.
‘There’s a lot of politics in the family, especially with the boys pushing and wrestling each other. Like all kids, they get very excited seeing the wallow getting filled for the summer.
He adds: ‘They also have plenty of ice-cold water flowing from selffilling drinkers to keep them cool.’
The rhinos also enjoy hanging out in the wallows, where the gloopy, nutrient-rich muck works as a protective suncream and insect repellent. And they love a good pampering session too, coating themselves with mud and scratching up against walls and rocks.
BLOODY PURRFECT COLD TREATS
ICE pops are also a huge hit among the lions and tigers — but these summer treats are not for the faint-hearted.
Vegetarians should look away now — their lollies of choice are made out of blood.
‘We gather up blood and meat from the meat room and we add that into the ice blocks for the carnivores,’ James explains. ‘They love nothing better than licking them in the heat. The big cats’ tongues are like sandpaper so they love to lick the bloody ice blocks to cool their mouths down.
‘They also have access to a constant flow of icy water and there are pools to hop in and out of to stay cool, but like all the animals,
they naturally seek the shade in hot weather.
‘We have lots of trees and shade for them and so they go there to relax and conserve their energy, like all carnivores do in the wild,’ James says.
‘In Africa, most big cats sleep for 17 hours a day and move only to hunt, find water or get shade, usually when the sun goes down. In the wild they feed once every three or four days — they catch a large prey, gorge around 60kg into their bellies and sleep it off for a few days.
‘In the zoo they gorge on 20kg every two days and then rest. Their DNA has evolved to be well able to take this heat. Like all our zoo habitats, we have state-of-the-art houses with the best heating and air-conditioning systems in them.’
TONGUE-TWISTER GIRAFFES
GIRAFFES spend most of their time gobbling food, curling their 18in tongues around high-hanging leaves and branches.
If we stuck out our tongues all day long, they’d get very sunburnt — but this isn’t the case for giraffes. Eagle-eyed visitors to Dublin Zoo might have noticed their dark, purplish tongues.
Millions of years evolving to live in arid, hot savannah environments has toughened up the giraffe’s long tongue to deal with the heat.
‘They eat a lot of leaves and bark from the tops of trees. These are nutritionally low value so they have to eat a lot of branches, which means their tongues are out a lot of the time — that’s why they are black, it’s a natural adaptation,’ explains James. ‘The sun doesn’t bother them at all although we’ve two new baby giraffes so we’re keeping a close eye on them.’
He reveals that these days they’re also adding ice lollies to carrots and cabbage leaves placed in large browser buckets hung high for the world’s tallest animals. A high-tech heating system has also been installed for the giraffes, with overhead sensors providing dry heat areas to emulate savannah ‘hotspots’.
APES ON A WIRE
ORANGUTANS have captivated zoo visitors looking skywards during the heatwave by performing an impressive high-wire act.
James explains: ‘It’s the highest point above the zoo buildings and there’s a lovely natural breeze up there, so the orangutans head up, just like they would head for the high canopies in the jungle.’
Visitors to the new state-of-theart orangutan habitat at Dublin Zoo might also have noticed apes walking around carrying large black sacks or holding them on top of their heads. In their native Indonesian jungle homes, apes use large leaves as umbrellas to keep the heat and rain off them during the rainy season so the zookeepers improvise by providing sacks made from hessian cloth.
‘The apes are so intelligent, they use them like a umbrellas to keep the sun off them and if there’s a shower they throw them on their backs to keep the rain off them, just like they would in the wild with large leaves.’
As well as ice pops and sun umbrellas, the apes are also enjoying a new heating system in their zoo habitat. Water is squirted into the atmosphere every 20 minutes which, along with the glass roofs overhead, helps to re-create the humidity of their native Indonesian jungle.
This keeps keep their coats moist, oily and healthy, but James admits it can be a struggle in the heat for the sweat-soaked zookeepers.
‘In the wild, orangutans find little water-filled crevices in trees, which they suck out with a sponge they make by chewing up leaves,’ he explains. ‘Here they don’t need to bother — we have self-filling drinkers at strategic points and when they push them, they get a burst of cold flowing water.’
CHILLED PENGUINS
THERE are no Arctic penguins or polar bears in Dublin Zoo, but the South American penguins that live there are well adapted to both cool and hot spells.
James says: ‘They have a large pool which is salted and cool with access to burrows and lots of shade options. If it’s warm the zookeepers can turn on the sprinkler system — the penguins love to cool down with a walk through it.’
COOLEST CATS IN TOWN
THE only animal at Dublin Zoo with origins in a very cold climate is the snow leopard, which endures extremely cold weather in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia and high up in the Himalayas. But it also gets warm in the summer in their native lands, which lets them go out, hunt their prey and fill their bellies to prepare for the cold winters, so they’re well adapted for both climates.
‘We have very large dens, which are dark to emulate a shady, cavelike environment if they want 100% shade. We also have large rocks in the pools to provide cooler spots.’
And, contrary to popular belief, tigers love the water.
Zookeepers entice the leopards and tigers into the cooling pools by throwing in large chunks of meat.
There are also trees to provide plenty of shade and breezy spots as well as a cool box with a fan blowing cool air. Oh and they’re also partial to a bloody ice pop.
DON’T HOG THE SUN LOUNGER, MISS PIGGY
ZOOKEEPERS have to lash the factor 50 onto English pink pigs such as the Tamworth and Gloucester species to stop them burning, but the African red river hogs who live at the zoo are blessed with thick, coarse hair, so the Nivea isn’t needed.
James says: ‘For any pig species that doesn’t have much hair, you have to use suncream. Their pink skin is so sensitive — they’re just like redheads.’