GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — It was a lazy day for some animals at John Ball Zoo Tuesday afternoon.
"Most of them seem to be sleeping, as we would like to do in this heat," said visitor David Hlatko.
While others, Hlatko said, were making a day of it.
"The otters seem to have a good time just swimming and playing," said Hlatko.
According to zookeeper Jamie Rinehart, that difference in behavior is totally normal.
"The animals, like our river otters and the ones that have pools, are a lot more likely to be active because they can escape the heat better and swim and, you know, cool off," said Rinehart. "So it depends on the individuals, too. Some of them are much more active than others. Our red pandas will simply just lay all day and do absolutely nothing. So, depends on the individual."
For the animals that don't have access to pools of water, like their Chacoan peccaries, they have special stations to help keep them cool.
"We'll attach a hose to the top of an exhibit, and mist will shoot out," said Rinehart. "And the animal can choose to sit directly in the path of the mist or they can stay away from it and just get that cool breeze from it."
They even provide fun treats as another option.
"Icicles or popsicles or blood sickles for our carnivores," said Rinehart. "So, the otters today got a big block of ice that had fish in it, so they have to work to get that fish out, but it also keeps them cool."
Zookeepers and staff cater each technique to the animal's history.
"A lot of it depends on the individual animal as well as their natural history and where they're from, and we come up with creative ways to enrich them as well as to keep them cool," said Rinehart. "That's where the ice treats, and we even have air conditioning units for our snow leopard. So, it really just depends on the species themselves."
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Watch 13 ON YOUR SIDE for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV and on your phone.