While the heat wave reached its peak this Monday, July 18, the Zoodyssée animal park in Villiers-en-Bois (Deux-Sèvres) is trying to refresh its residents. Ice cream, fans, foggers: everything is good for keeping animals out of the heat.
Hot weather doesn’t just affect humans. They also hit our animal friends hard, especially those in captivity. At Zoodyssée, the animal park located south of Niort, the trainers ensure the well-being of their residents with different techniques to help them withstand the heat wave.
On the menu for European brown bears: fruit ice cream. Apples, bananas, melons, oranges… Enough to delight and refresh this protected species. “A way to lower their temperature while occupying them”explains Corentin Nivard, animal caretaker. Before continuing: “They scratch against the ice blocks, roll over them and so they have to wait for the ice cube to melt to eat.” In the huge ice cubes, there are also vegetables, meat, and cinnamon.
Although bears are rarely accustomed to such strong heat, they are animals that adapt quite well. We see that the youngest continue to have a strong activity and take full advantage of the enclosure.
Corentin Nivard, animal caretaker at Zoodyssée
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Pour each resident of the zoo, a suitable method is put in place by the keepers to cope with the heat wave. In the Norwegian reindeer enclosure, it’s the fan. “This both lowers the temperature of the building and removes the flies that bother them”specifies Guillaume Romano, director of Zoodyssée.
A little further on, the moose can bathe as they please in a brand new pool. “The advantage of this one meter pool is that they can completely immerse themselves”, demonstrates the director. Another solution to lower the body temperature of animals: misters. Since 2018, Zoodyssée has been investing in infrastructures like these, which are increasingly adapted to animals and heat.
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But the director of the animal park assures him, “there is nothing to be afraid of, whatever the heat episodes and the seasons”. Because, fortunately, animals adapt their behavior: “they know very well when to stand next to a stone or under a tree to modulate their internal temperature.”
Furthermore, the summer coat of certain animals, such as bison, “can withstand summer temperatures of 30 to 40 degrees without a problem”according to Guillaume Romano. “It’s natural air conditioning. They have the weapons to overcome temperature variations”.
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And to avoid heat stroke, the keepers regularly check the proper functioning of the basins, the automatic drinkers and the correct water temperature.
We make regular rounds in the park and have special attention with newborns and older animals, such as our 36-year-old female bear.
Guillaume Romano, director of Zoodyssey
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Zoodyssée animal park also enjoys a privileged location in the heart of the Chizé forest. Enough to allow the animals to endure with less difficulty the 36 degrees of this Monday, July 18, a temperature level never reached in the zoo.
These excessively high temperatures also have economic consequences for the park. With each peak of heat, attendance at the park drops by half.
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