Spain’s Barcelona Zoo adapts animal care during the warmer months

During the hot months the keepers at Barcelona Zoo adopt extraordinary measures to continue to guarantee animal health and welfare.

As usual in the summer months, Barcelona Zoo has implemented a series of extraordinary measures to mitigate the effects the high temperatures have on the animals, Barcelona Town Hall confirmed on Monday, August 8.

These treatments complement the daily care that the different species receive from their keepers and are part of the Zoo’s desire to ensure the well-being and health of the animals at all times.

Due to its location and abundant vegetation, Barcelona Zoo registers temperatures about three degrees above the rest of the city.

The Ciutadella Park, where the Zoo is located, is part of the Barcelona City Council’s Climate Shelter Network. These are spaces that, from 2019 and whenever there is a heat wave, provide thermal comfort to the most vulnerable population while maintaining their uses and functionalities.

With this thermal difference, when temperatures rise, Barcelona Zoo activates a protocol with monitoring measures for certain species to continue in the heat in the best way they can.

At times of peak heat, the team of keepers renews the water in the bee boxes more frequently so that it is kept cool and, if necessary, more bee boxes are made available to the animals.

The keepers also, intensify the cleaning and renewal of the water in the bathing areas that some species have in their facilities.

Only in exceptional cases, such as the pair of vermillion pandas, water sprinklers are activated to cool the space where they are kept.

In general, when temperatures are high, it is ensured that the animals can access the interior areas of their facilities, maintaining appropriate behaviour at all times.

Food is another element that the keepers at Barcelona Zoo take very much into account during the hottest months.

In order to ensure the correct hydration of the animals, they prepare gels adapted to the diet of each species. These are gel-based gels that incorporate pepper, seafood, fruit, vegetables, sugar or broth.

Bears and primates, for example, are given frozen fruit and broth or fruit juice jellies; giraffes, gel blocks with fruit; and mongooses and meerkats, cucumber slushies.

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