Humans have ice creams, zoo animals have frozen treats for summer heat | Video

Yitzhak Yadid, the general curator at the Bioparco di Roma Zoo in Italy's Rome, told AFP, "We are giving them some frozen food, like frozen fish for the otters. For the Japanese monkeys, we have put some frozen fruits in their pen... we do this for every animal to help them cope with the terrible heat."

A Rome zoo is feeding frozen fruits, meat and fish to its animals to provide them with some relief from scorching temperatures, news agency AFP said Thursday. Yitzhak Yadid, the general curator at the Bioparco di Roma Zoo, told AFP, "We are giving them some frozen food, like frozen fish for the otters. For the Japanese monkeys, we have put some frozen fruits in their pen... we do this for every animal to help them cope with the terrible heat."

Japanese monkeys at the Bioparco di Roma Zoo are being given frozen fruits to cope up with the heatwave. (AFP screengrab)

"We humans have an ice cream to cool down when it is hot... it is the same thing," Yadid said, adding it is important that all animals have some shade and enough water. "They are all being monitored by our staff round the clock," he told AFP.

Rome, Naples, Palermo and 24 other Italian cities have been put on a red alert by the health ministry due to a heatwave sweeping the nation, according to a report by news agency ANSA.

In Rome, the mercury on Tuesday touched 39 degrees Celsius and temperatures are expected to remain high in the coming weeks. Scientists have warned heatwaves will continue to arrive earlier than usual owing to climate change.

Similar efforts to combat heatwaves seen in Indian zoos

Several zoos in India have also taken similar steps to help animals cope with the heat.

In Delhi, sprinklers, slabs of ice and coolers were installed in May.

"... for animals to beat the heat we have made arrangements for sheds in enclosures... there are many trees (and) if any corner doesn't have a tree we put an agro net, which gives shade. There are small ponds (and,) to keep the soil moist, we have installed sprinklers," Dharmdeo Rai, the Delhi zoo's director told news agency ANI.

At a zoo in Punjab’s Ludhiana too ice slabs, coolers and fruits have been deployed.

Similar initiatives have been taken at the Byculla Zoo in Mumbai.