Zoos' Heat Remedies Include Frozen Insects, 'Bloodsicles'

(July 7) -- While humans soldier through the heat wave with air conditioning and ice cream, members of the animal kingdom are receiving special treatment at zoos along the East Coast.

When temperatures rise at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo, keepers whip up inventive icy treats for their animal charges.

"For the carnivores, we do bloodsicles," John Piazza, curator of mammals at Zoo New England, which operates the Franklin Park Zoo and the Stone Zoo in Massachusetts, told AOL News today. "We take it from the big buckets of blood from the meat in their diet."

For the monkey-like cottontop tamarins, relief from the heat comes in the form of Popsicles filled with a mix of insects, fruits and vegetables.

"You wouldn't see these ingredients on the box in the supermarket," Piazza said.

In the midst of a summer heat wave that brings the threat of heat stress and heat exhaustion to zoos in the East, zookeepers said they are taking special precautions, particularly with very young and very old animals and those living in outdoor exhibits. Extra effort is given to replenishing fresh water and checking for excessive panting, drooling and signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion, Piazza said.

"The mister is our big item, and we do that for the animals and the public to keep them cool," he said. "And we try to locate the hoses in the shade to get that double cooling effect."

At the Staten Island Zoo in New York, old-fashioned ice is a cooling tactic for bobcats and foxes.

"We're constantly freezing water bottles and making huge ice blocks and putting them in exhibits," curator Peter Laline told AOL News. "The animals like to straddle the ice or lie near it."

If an animal displays signs of stress in the heat, caretakers won't hesitate to move it to an indoor, air-conditioned enclosure, Laline said, as was the case this week with a red panda named Henry.

"It was difficult for the panda to sustain its activity in heat like this, so we brought him indoors," Laline said. "Obviously that doesn't work with every animal. We're not putting our Clydesdales into an air-conditioned building."

Instead, the horses' barn is packed with extra fans.

Curators said creatures that come from more temperate climates -- like deer, bison, porcupines and some birds -- receive extra monitoring. In an effort to limit the exertion of its goats and alpacas during the heat wave, the Staten Island Zoo temporarily closed its Kids' Corral, which permits petting.

Caretakers said their animals tend to respond well to the additional measures taken during summer hot spells, with few difficulties or cases of illness. Even after being born in captivity, Laline said, many species that have evolved from the African plains have acclimated to the heat.

"The animals are very hardy," he said. "This is hot, there's no question, but it feels different to them."

For a lucky few creatures, like the Franklin Zoo's tree kangaroos, neither extreme heat nor intense cold disrupts their equilibrium.

"We keep them in a climate-controlled environment throughout the year, about 70 degrees with 55 percent humidity," Piazza said. "They got the corner office."