On hot summer days, Maharani the tiger and her fellow carnivores at Cameron Park Zoo get special treats — blood-sicles with frozen-in bones and fish flesh.

Eight-thousand-pound African elephants Tembo and Tanya regularly are hosed down and fed fruity freeze pops.

Even Stanley, the furry South American squirrel monkey, pops frozen grapes in his mouth.

Tembo, a 31-year-old African elephant drinks water straight from a shooting hose held by Manda Butler, animal care manager at Cameron Park Zoo.
Duane A. Laverty/Tribune-Herald

There are cool rocks to lounge on, ponds to plunge into, mud baths and plenty of shade at the Waco zoo.

And there’s always air conditioning.

In these triple-digit, humid days, zookeepers are tasked with keeping the thick-coated critters happy and cool.

“We work with these animals day in and day out, so we can tell when the heat is stressing them out,” said Manda Butler, the zoo’s animal care manager for mammals.

Just like in life outside the zoo, those who need special care on the hottest of days are the older animals or those with health problems.

The zoo’s flock of deer, for example, are all in their 20s and can’t weather the summer days like they once could.

It’s not as if any part of the zoo’s population is completely foreign to Central Texas heat and humidity.

The Cameron Park Zoo has no polar bears or penguins.

A lot of the zoo animals actually come from hot, tropical climates.

So much of the reason zookeepers use the ice pops made of blood and splashy mud baths is the same reason a parent might put out a sprinkler for little ones to run through. It breaks up the boredom of summer.

From the two-toed sloth to the lumbering black bear, the creative little ways zookeepers find to cool them off is mostly about keeping their minds active and engaged and their bodies strong.

At the zoo, they call it “enrichment.”

Such as when zookeepers Rachel Huber and Lindsey Stein work with Mei and K.J., two of the zoo’s three orangutans. Sure, the apes are treated to Crystal Light ice pops, but it’s mostly about encouraging curiosity, retrieving food and providing different tastes and textures.

With August a day away, the zoo’s freezers will likely be jam-packed for the next several weeks.

According to the National Weather Service, a high of 99 is expected today, and temperatures of 100 and higher will continue at least through Thursday.

Zoo animals like 31-year-old Tembo the elephant will reap the rewards. Using her trunk recently, she sucked a red ice pop straight from its plastic packaging.

“You can see she’s just savoring it,” Butler said. “She’s even fluttering her eyes. She just loves it. She’s savoring every bit of that ice pop.”

equinn@wacotrib.com

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