Chengdu Zoo in southwest China's Sichuan Province has installed space heaters to guarantee a warm winter for some animals, such as monkeys from the tropics, chimpanzees, ring-tailed lemurs and amphibians.
Chengdu's temperatures dropped below 10℃ at times. Each house in the zoo is equipped with thermometers to detect real-time temperatures. The air and electric heaters could be adjusted flexibly according to the temperature needs of different animals at any time.
"Although we believe that many animals in the wild are not afraid of the cold, for the high humidity and low temperature in Chengdu, animals also found it difficult to keep warm, so we have adopted a variety of ways to keep warm in the zoo," said Yang Ruilin, leader of Animal Enrichment Team at Chengdu Zoo.
"For large animals, we provided heaters and floor heating. For amphibians and reptiles, we used water heating. There are also some lamps such as UVA solar lamps and UVB lamps to ensure sufficient sunlight," Yang added.
In addition to heaters, wheat straws and sacks were also laid on the ground to provide a warm "bed" for animals. Tropical tortoises and estuarine crocodiles can enjoy bathing in hot springs during the cold winter.
(Reported by Chen Xuanbin; Edited by Zhou Jing)