Dealing with the heat: »Animals are simply smarter than us«

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Polar bear Sprinter at Hanover Zoo: ice cream cake with apples and carrots to beat the heat

Photo: Hannover Adventure Zoo

SPIEGEL:

Ms. Riedelt, how warm is it where you are?

Riedelt:

34 degrees.

SPIEGEL:

For many people that means: lower the roller shutters, take a cold shower and move as little as possible.

How do the zoo animals deal with the heat?

Riedelt:

Our animals do what you should do now: shut down.

The polar bears are out and about in the water a lot, like to lie in the shade, withdraw and relax.

Even the African animals adapt to the temperatures.

Our meerkats, for example, are primarily out and about in the morning hours.

They're also not cuddling quite as much as they normally would right now.

The flamingos dip their feet in the Zambezi, our river that runs through the African theme world.

And our rhino loves to take a shower.

SPIEGEL:

Your rhino showers?

Riedelt:

Yes, the pigs have also discovered this for themselves this year.

Wherever we have the opportunity, we shower the animals from time to time.

The elephants have a huge mud wallow in their outdoor enclosure, with a large water hose hanging above, the animals are sprayed with it and can then bread themselves properly in the mud.

This cools down and at the same time helps against annoying insects.

SPIEGEL:

What else do you do?

Riedelt:

Many animals also get ice cream cakes in different flavors.

Everything that our feed master's cooling chamber has to offer is cut into small pieces, packed into a large bucket, poured over with water and frozen.

This is a nice cool down on these warm days, but also a snack and activity.

SPIEGEL:

Do your animals have their own tricks for dealing with this weather?

Riedelt:

Our hippos like to lie in the blazing sun without getting sunburned: They have a kind of endogenous sunscreen, a reddish secretion that the skin produces itself.

This protects them from the sun and at the same time acts as a small antibiotic when the animals fight with each other.

Our keepers even use it as hand cream in winter.

SPIEGEL:

What else could we learn from?

Riedelt:

Another thing that animals have over us is their instinct for water.

We have desert antelope, the addax, a very rare endangered species. They can smell water for miles.

Unfortunately, we don't have this instinct, but we should perhaps remind ourselves to drink enough fluids with a water bottle.

Animals can handle heat much better than humans.

And they're just smarter than us.

SPIEGEL:

What does that mean?

Riedelt:

Even in this weather, the likes of us lie in the sun and try to get a little tan.

The animals - with the exception of the hippos - retire to the shade.

You know intuitively that's the better idea these days.

SPIEGEL:

What else can humans learn from your zoo animals?

Riedelt:

Drink a lot.

Slow down a bit - in relation to us humans: don't run a marathon, don't go on a huge shopping spree.

Lay in the shade for a bit, relax and maybe have an ice cream or two.

Even if we unfortunately have to go to the ice cream parlor ourselves.