Given the heat wave that Madrid and the rest of Spain are suffering, the animals at the Madrid zoo combat the heat by eating fruit ice creams and taking cold water baths.
“Fruit, vegetable, and fish poles complement the seasonal diet for brown bears, red pandas, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, and white-handed gibbons, among other omnivores and herbivores,” the agency said in a press release. The animals in this complex are very pampered and cared for because the employees, for example, when cleaning their stables or spaces where they sleep say “we are going to clean the rooms”, as if it were a hotel.
To combat high temperatures, the animals have winter spaces, meadows with shady areas and water areas. Specifically, some species such as brown bears, Asian elephants, Indian rhinos, land tortoises, or hippos have been provided with bathing areas so that they can cool off. While other species such as Amazonian tapir, deer, reindeer, fallow deer, sun bears, herring, sitatungas, American bison or wolves have been installed showers and sprinklers so they can bathe in the middle of the day.
The Madrid Zoo was inaugurated on July 23, 1972 in the surroundings of the Casa de Campo. Together with Faunia, both complexes managed by Parque Reunidos, offer the possibility of seeing a multitude of native animal species and those from other countries in the capital. In addition, the Madrid Zoo works on 63 programs for the recovery of protected species.
Specifically, a few months ago, for example, he sent Nima, one of the five otters born in 2020, to Argentina to collaborate with the Rewilding Argentina Foundation, an entity that works to reverse the extinction of species and recover ecosystems. The objective is to cross her with the male Coco in a national park so that they have offspring and learn to fish. If it reproduces successfully, the couple and their litter will be released into a large wetland, with the aim of recovering this extinct species in the Andean country.
