Animals at Prague zoo keeping cool in heatwave
Like most of Europe, Czechia has seen some extremely hot weather over the past weeks. It is not just people who suffer during heatwaves – zoo animals do too. I talked with Prague Zoo’s spokesperson Filip Mašek to find out just how the animals are coping.
“We have to realise that most of these animals, I would say 99% of them, were born in the zoo. So even when it comes to animals that are naturally from cooler environments, like reindeer or polar bears, they are adapted to the local climate.
“So unless the temperatures get close to 40 degrees Celsius, we don’t really do anything special, because all the animals always have access to an indoor area that is usually air conditioned.
“We have water sprinklers and air coolers in a lot of these enclosures, for example the polar bears, the penguin enclosures, or the Tasmanian enclosures, because a lot of animals from Tasmania like the Tasmanian devils or wombats don't have sweat glands, so we keep the animals cool for most of the summer.
“Luckily, this summer the temperatures are around 30 or 32 degrees Celsius, so we don't have to do anything special.”
You mentioned the polar bears and other animals which naturally live in cold environments. Which of the animals are most at risk?
“It’s definitely the polar bears, the reindeer and then the animals from the north of Europe. It could be birds from that area or, for example, the European bison.”
Prague Zoo has recently welcome several babies, including the second pangolin ever born in Europe, and most recently a baby giraffe. How are they weathering the heat?
“You are absolutely right. This year it has been just one big baby boom. Already on January 2, there was a first gorilla born, then there was the second gorilla born, an orangutan, the first Czech wombat, the second pangolin bred in Europe and now a baby giraffe. All these babies, except for the wombat, come from other tropical part of the world, so I think the heat is not causing them any trouble.”
Last week some of the animals at Prague Zoo were given ice by the ton to better cope with the heat. With temperatures set to soar again this weekend, will the animals get another dose of ice?
“In general, last year, we coped with a bizarre summer. July 2023 was extremely hot and then August was extremely cold and rainy. And both these months we didn't get many visitors because when it is very hot, people go swimming somewhere, and when it is cold, they don’t come to the zoo.
“So we decided to battle the hot weather and pre-ordered 150 tons of ice cubes. And every time we see the weather forecast telling us that it will be very hot, we order 10 or 15 tons of ice for the day, we get it delivered to the zoo, and then we put it not only into the animal enclosures, but also on the visitor's path. And it has been a giant success!
“So I advise potential visitors to follow us on social media or to check our website, because two or three days prior to this we always put out a map of all the places where the ice will be distributed, so you can plan your visit accordingly.”
