Zoo animals get shower, coolers and healthy diet as temperature soars

Summers in India can be unbearable not just for humans but animals too. While out in the open, animals have an ample shade and the vast wilderness to fend for themselves and find shelter in cool spaces, this is not the same in a zoo. Zoo authorities in India have now buckled up to relieve animals from the scorching heat by making a few changes.

The zoo staff in different parts of the country are giving animals showers at least twice or thrice a day, and have even changed their diet. Additionally, some zoos have installed air coolers for the inhabitants.

Bhopal's Van Vihar National Park has installed hay curtains in animal enclosures, along with coolers. "Coolers & hay curtains installed in tiger enclosures at Bhopal's Van Vihar National Park to help animals beat the heat, also to ensure there is no change in behavioral pattern. For free-ranging animals like bears & deer, sprinklers installed and resting places made in the open," ANI reported.

Animals at the zoo in Machiya Safari Park of Jodhpur are being bathed almost thrice a day. They also have coolers installed for them and are receiving proper diet to keep their body cool.

While Bhopal is situated in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh where the country is more or less arid, Jodhpur is a city in the Thar Desert of the northwest Indian state of Rajasthan.

In Bhopal temperature reads more than 40-degree Celsius during the summer months. Also, the Rajasthan records the highest temperature in the country. In 2016, Phalodi in Jodhpur recorded a maximum temperature of 51 degree Celsius.