Here’s a phrase you don’t expect to hear this time of year: snow day. But that’s what the Phoenix Zoo recently celebrated.
It’s not a typical sound or sight at the Phoenix Zoo. Four people feed 40 pound bags of ice into a machine that blows out 10 tons of snow.
“We’re going into our mandrill exhibit right now and we're gonna drop just about a cart full of snow in there for them,” said Tysen Marshall, a primate keeper.
He delivered snow to the baboons exhibit, too.
Anna, the female, scooped a handful of snow while Moja, the male, picked at a frozen treat made of Gatorade and sprinkled with raisins, bananas and nuts.
At another exhibit, an orangutan entertained a crowd that included 12-year-old Charlie Grindle.
“At the bottom of the popsicle, there's peanuts,” she said. “And he took one out of the thing and then brought it out of his mouth, cracked it open, and then put it back in his mouth.”
It was the first visit to the Phoenix Zoo for Joshua Becker and his 3-year-old daughter.
“We live in Mesa, but we had a trip recently to Bellingham, Washington and she loved the snow up on Mount Baker,” he said. “So we're trying to see it again a little bit here.”
The snow pile for the African painted dogs contained red drizzles.
Linda Hardwick, the zoo’s communications director, said some animals get what they call “bloodsicles."
“It's diluted blood,” she said. “It's from the drippings from the meat. I mean, they're carnivores, so that's what they would eat in the wild anyway. They would eat carcasses, meat, blood.”
Danielle Wong, the zoo’s behavioral enhancement coordinator, says animals benefit in different ways.
“It could be a manner of cooling them down. It could be a manner of presenting it with food and then they're engaging in those foraging behaviors," Wong said. "Or it could just be a manner of it's a totally new experience and they really think it's cool.”
The tiger’s frozen treat, stuffed with fish, captured 8-year-old Kirstyn Endean’s attention.
“Well, the tiger just pawed with it and (slurping noise) like ate it. It swallowed the fish whole,” she said.
It’s the third year SRP has sponsored a snow day at the zoo but Marshall says ice treats and other heat relief tools are common during the summer.
“Some of our exhibits have cooling pads where they can lay down. It's just cold water running through it. We have swamp coolers. We have misters and fans. We can also do–some of our buildings have air conditioning,” he said.
More than 3,000 animals, representing nearly 400 species, live at the Phoenix Zoo.
While visitors enjoy watching them romp around and lick bucket-sized popsicles, Wong said not everyone wants to play, and that’s okay.
“Some of our animals, even if they were coming from a colder climate, they might go, I don't think so. So, behavioral enrichment, it's totally up to the animals if they choose and want to participate in engaging with it. We just like to give them that opportunity,” she said.
With temperatures well above 110 degrees, most chose to dig in before the snow melted.