Tayto Park animals staying cool in the sun

While visitors to Tayto Park are enjoying the spell of sunny weather, zookeepers at the theme park and zoo are busy ensuring that all animals stay cool and refreshed.

With Met Éireann forecasting warm weather to continue this week, the resident animals at the Tayto Park Zoo are staying refreshed with a range of cool down treats prepared by the Tayto Park zookeepers ensuring they can also have fun in the sun!

One way to ensure animals stay comfortable during this sunny spell are frozen popsicles. As animals don’t perspire in the same way as humans, iced treats using the animals feed such as fresh fruit or vegetables ensure they stay hydrated. Iced fruits and vegetables are also a great way for animals to absorb extra water and keep them hydrated during warm weather.

The Tayto Park zookeepers have also been busy providing extra shading spots for some of the animals and ensuring there is plenty of cool water to quench their thirst.

Visitors to the Tayto Park Zoo will catch a glimpse of the Asian small-clawed otters taking full advantage of their pond, as they splash around to cool down, along with Ossie, the Tayto Park Emu bathing in cool water while the sun is shining.

Deputy Zoo Manager at Tayto Park, Aisling Power said, “In Ireland, we’re just not used to extreme heat and that includes some of our species at the Tayto Park Zoo. Many of our primates enjoy year round temperatures of up to 23 or 24 degrees in their indoor habitats, but for all the animals, our main focus in the summer months is keeping them cool and offering them lots of opportunities for shade”.

“Frozen popsicles made using the animals diet, such as fresh fruit or vegetables, is a very popular choice with our zookeepers who get very creative with how they present these colourful treats!”. Even our resident pigs have special sun screen applied daily to protect them against the sun”.