A Few Zoo Animals Welcome The Bitter Cold
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - This cold is as hard on most animals as it is on people. However, for some of the residents of the Philadelphia Zoo, this is the type of weather they wait for all year.
The Zoo is definitely a quieter place in the winter. Christine Bartos, Ungulate curator, says a lot of its tenants would prefer to be in tropical grasslands. "The more sensitive animals like giraffes can't really go out in this kind of cold so they're in their nice, warm, snug barns, eating hay and they're happy as clams," said Bartos.
On the other hand, the Zoo is also home to polar bears, Siberian tigers, and snow leopards. Each of these animals come alive when the temperature drops below freezing. "The tigers will just be chasing each other in the snow, they love this kind of weather. They may be the only ones because the keepers don't, but those guys sure do," Bartos said.
Bartos adds that polar bears will even go swimming at this time of year and do some frolicking when it snows. She also said they do have the option of going inside in case it gets too cold, even for them.
Reported by Pat Loeb, KYW Newsradio
