We are heating up

Iraqi Mastigure heating up at the temperature of 60.2°C. Photo Petr Velenský, Prague Zoo

Of course we try to face the extreme heat in our Zoo and make life easier for the animals and visitors as well. But I am not going to write now about fish ice cream for polar bears or water sprays for children or cool beer for adults. Exactly the opposite. There are two places in the Zoo which we are still heating up even in this tropical heat.

These are the desert exhibits Kattakum and Sonora. During the winter we keep the temperature there between 20 and 30°C, and between 30 - 50°C for the rest of the year. So even during normal conditions the temperature inside is comparable with the temperature in a car parked in the sun in a hot weather.

Even in these days, when the outside temperature exceeds 30°C, in Kattakum and Sonora the heating panels are on. So the temperature at the hottest places reaches 60°C. For the reptiles, living in deserts, even today´s tropical heat in Czech Republic is not enough; they need to have their temperature raised by 20 or 25°C more...

Miroslav Bobek, Director, Prague Zoo