Extreme Heat Takes a Heavy Toll on Animals… Panting Even With Special Ice Treats

[Anchor]

Amid relentless heatwaves, not only people but also animals are exhausted and losing their energy. Zoos are paying extra attention to their care by preparing special treats such as ice and fruit.

Reporter Yoo Soo-Hwan visited to capture how animals are beating the heat.

[Reporter]

Under the scorching sun, a tiger walks slowly.

This is Seolho, the youngest of the seven Siberian tigers at two years old.

Discovering cool ice, the tiger sticks out its tongue to cool down.

Alongside its mother, it quickly snatches a fish hidden among the ice blocks.

[Seoul Grand Park Zookeeper: Because it's a baby, it's playing with it.]

Seoul Grand Park prepared these special treats to boost the vitality of the tigers exhausted by the successive heatwaves and to encourage underwater hunting.

[Park Hyun-jin / Seoul Grand Park Zookeeper: Because the weather is hot, we can clearly see the animals going into the water, looking for shade, and definitely reducing their movement. From a human perspective, we can observe behavior that almost looks like irritation.]

For Aung, an Asiatic black bear whose whole body is covered in black fur, this summer is also a severe ordeal.

A lavish ice dessert table filled with seasonal fruits and frozen fish has been served.

Taking a spot, it grabs a Korean melon and starts a "mukbang" (eating broadcast).

The elephants have a slightly different way of beating the heat.

As soon as they come out of their enclosure, they head straight for the red clay.

Using their long trunks, they scatter sand all over their bodies and enjoy a mud bath.

Mud is the elephants' natural sunscreen that protects their skin from the hot sun.

As watermelons are delivered, Japanese macaques flock from everywhere.

Some quickly grab one and run away as if someone might take it, while others claim the coolest spot right on top of the ice.

The 930 kg of special provisions, including fruits and vegetables, provided by Seoul Grand Park to 16 animal enclosures today were prepared through companion funds and donations raised by citizens.

(Video reporting: Joo Beom, Kim Heung-ki | Video editing: Park Na-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.