Extreme Heat Takes a Toll on Animals and Plants. What Their Keepers Do to Protect Them
September 25, 2024 at 03:30PMOn days when the temperature becomes too hot to bear, some humans are fortunate enough to retreat into air-conditioned spaces. But low-income and unhoused people, as well as animals and plants in the wild, are unable to escape. For USA Today, Joan Meiners describes how zookeepers and botanists work hard to keep animals and plants cool in some of America’s hottest places, like Phoenix.
The goat struggling with Phoenix’s midsummer heat is named Seymour, the very same bearded LaMancha once featured in a children’s book sold in the zoo gift shop called “Seymour The Naughty Goat.” At 8:20 a.m., zookeeper Amy Dannis leads Seymour from a sunny plat of the Red Barn petting zoo registering at 99 degrees into a shaded pen with its own fan, and pours him a dish of water mixed with red Gatorade. The animals like the red flavor best and purple least, she says.
Cactus specialist Noemi Hernandez points to several examples of succulents showing the yellowing, shriveled signs of “sun scorch” on the way to the newly-transplanted saguaros covered in black, green, tan or white landscaping cloth. Cactus can get sunburned too, it turns out. But visitors usually don’t see it on display at curated botanical gardens, where protective tending and careful pruning prevent unsightly damage.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/09/25/extreme-heat-takes-a-toll-on-animals-and-plants-what-their-keepers-do-to-protect-them/
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