GERMANY-WEATHER German animals and humans seize on opportunities to cool down in the heat

Record ID: 148592

  • Title: GERMANY-WEATHER German animals and humans seize on opportunities to cool down in the heat
  • Date: 3rd July 2015
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2015) (REUTERS) ENTRANCE TO BERLIN ZOO ELEPHANT BEING COOLED DOWN WITH SAND VARIOUS OF ELEPHANTS BEING SPRAYED WITH WATER (SOUNDBITE) (German) ZOO CURATOR, TOBIAS RAHDE, SAYING: "It is very, very hot. And that is why the animals are mostly in the shade. Lying in the shade. And we have special treats for them, often we have lawn sprinkler in the enc
  • Embargoed: 18th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8N526H0NKSGPYVAPM4FLKBOGC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: After summer's long-awaited arrival, sunburn and heat stroke are among the downsides of the hot and sunny weather.
    But suffering in the heat is not just a problem for humans. Animals suffer as well. Although many animals in the Berlin zoo live originate in very hot areas of the world, the current heat causes not only stress amongst the inhabitants of Berlin but also of the inhabitants of its zoo.
    The favourite means of cooling down is water, both from the inside and the outside, as the curator of the Berlin zoo, Tobias Rahde, told Reuters.
    "It is very, very hot. And that is why the animals are mostly in the shade. Lying in the shade. And we have special treats for them, often we have lawn sprinkler in the enclosures, have water trickle down or water hoses," he said.
    The keepers in the elephant enclosure on Friday (July 3) sprinkled the animals with water from an upper floor, while the alpaca rarely moved from their little artificial water hole and unusual the "pig-deers" or babirusas got their food frozen in ice blocks.
    But for human onlookers, the best place to be was the pools.
    "Well, they are doing the right thing. They're in the water. I wish I could join them," one zoo visitor said.
    An upside of the hot temperatures is that there is always an excuse to eat ice cream, meaning big sales for manufacturers.
    The proprietor of one ice cream parlour in Kempten is not just any ice cream man, but the German champion of ice cream making. Despite sweating in his ice cream lab, Adriano Colle loves the hot weather.
    "Now it is very hot, summer is here! That means that we produce twice as much (ice cream). We are in the vicinity of 200 litres per day. And that is quite a lot, I have to get up quite early for that and work late. But the summer in Allgau (region in Southern Germany) does not last very long. And if it last two or three weeks, then we have to persevere," he said.
    Despite the massive amounts, in Kempten, the ice cream trays are all empty at the end of every day.
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