As temperatures exceeded 20C around Cork this week, Fota Wildlife Park staff were keeping animals cool and hydrated with frozen treats and cold showers.
Met Éireann said “heatwave conditions” will remain in place for the remainder of this week and into next week in Cork, as a weather advisory for the whole country came into effect on Wednesday night.
Liam McConville, senior ranger at Fota Wildlife Park, told The Echo: “Most of the animals are pretty keen on the good weather.”
“The meerkats and lemurs are the sun worshippers – if they were humans on their holidays, they’d be the ones rushing down with their towels to get the best sunbeds,” says Fota ranger Liam McConville.
“There’s a misconception that all penguins are from cold climates – our penguins are found on the coast of Chile so they do absolutely fantastic in this weather.”
He said the red pandas are among the animals less suited to the heatwave, but their enclosure has lots of tree coverage and houses that are well ventilated, with fans put in place to ensure they have a cool place to rest.
Artificial shelters
“All animals have an enclosure that’s specific to their needs all year round – areas of shade like artificial shelters as well as trees and rocks. That they have freedom to get shade if they want to is really important,” said Mr McConville.
“We have lots of bodies of water, and they’re fed from the harbour so the water is naturally recycled and it stays cool.”
Park staff have lots of methods of manually keeping animals cool – Jamil the rhino was hosed down by a ranger “to take the edge off”, while others enjoy a sprinkler system.
Spider monkeys enjoy homemade, sugar-free ice lollies, made from their favourite fruits, as zookeepers help keep the animals cool during the current heatwave at Fota Wildlife Park
Blocks of sugar free cordial and grapes are thrown into the enclosure of the spider monkeys.
“Giving them iced treats, freezing their food into blocks of ice also gives them extra water without them even realising they’re keeping themselves cool and hydrated.”
Green beans and lettuce are frozen into a large ice block for giraffes, which will take all day to fully defrost as they lick the block to free the vegetables.
Liam McConville, senior ranger at Fota Wildlife Park, feeds the giraffes frozen cubes of their favourite treats to help keep them cool during the current heatwave Pictures: Chani Anderson
Their tongues range from eight to 13 inches and are black to prevent them from getting sunburnt as they eat from trees on hot days.
Fota welcomed a baby giraffe three weeks ago, and the adult giraffes stand around her to ensure she is kept in the shade as much as possible.
The Nubian giraffe is critically endangered, and the calf was welcomed as a result of one of Fota’s many breeding programmes.
Mr McConville said that seeing an increase in extreme temperatures is a cause for concern.
“It really is worrying. We’re seeing things like loss of habitat, melting ice caps – it’s not good for animals.”