AILSA CHANG, HOST:
In Phoenix, daily high temperatures have hovered around 110 degrees for almost two months. The heat isn't just hard on humans but on animals, too. And that is why the Phoenix Zoo recently provided some special relief. Christina Estes with member station KJZZ reports.
CHRISTINA ESTES, BYLINE: Behind the scenes, four guys feed 40-pound bags of ice into a machine that blows out something not typically seen here - snow, 10 tons of snow that's then presented to some of the more than 3,000 animals representing nearly 400 species that live here.
TYSEN MARSHALL: All right. So we're going into our mandrill exhibit now. We're going to drop just about a cart full of snow in there for them.
ESTES: Primate keeper Tysen Marshall.
MARSHALL: The baboons are definitely very interested in it.
ESTES: Anna, the female, scoops a handful of snow while Moja, the male, picks it a frozen treat made of Gatorade and sprinkled with raisins, bananas and nuts.
He just grabbed a big hunk of ice.
ESTES: It's the third year the Phoenix Zoo has held a snow day, but ice treats are common in the summer.
MARSHALL: 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.
ESTES: Twelve-year-old Charlie Grindle was among those being entertained by an orangutan.
CHARLIE GRINDLE: At the bottom of the popsicle, there's peanuts, and he, like, 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.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Go, monkey. Go, monkey.
ESTES: The snow and ice streets have a lot of benefit, says Danielle Wong, the zoo's behavioral enhancement coordinator.
DANIELLE WONG: Every animal's going to benefit from it 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. Or it could just be a manner of it's a totally new experience, and they really think it's cool.
ESTES: A bucket-size popsicle stuffed with fish captured 8-year-old Kirstyn Endean's attention.
KIRSTYN ENDEAN: Well, the tiger just caught with it and, like, (imitating tiger chomping) ate it.
ESTES: Wong says not everyone wants to play, and that's OK.
WONG: 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.
ESTES: With temperatures well above 110 degrees, most choose to dig in before the snow melts. For NPR News, I'm Christina Estes at the Phoenix Zoo.
(SOUNDBITE OF NIKI SONG, "EVERY SUMMERTIME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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