Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.
Frozen meat, live fish: Zoo animals in Korea feast to beat heat wave
A pair of hippopotamuses feast on whole watermelons at Seoul Grand Park as part of a summer program providing chilled treats to help animals navigate the heat wave. Courtesy of Seoul Grand Park
By Jhoo Dong-chan
As a relentless summer heat wave transforms Korea’s urban areas into open-air saunas, human residents typically retreat toward air-conditioned cafes and iced Americanos. But for the roughly 100 species residing at Seoul Grand Park, surviving August requires a vastly different culinary strategy: frozen beef leg bones, whole watermelons and the high-stakes thrill of hunting live catfish.
Zoo officials at the park dispatched a staggering 920 kilograms of specialized seasonal treats across 15 animal enclosures Friday, launching an annual summer welfare campaign designed to combat heat-induced lethargy, dehydration and thermal stress.
For the park's apex predators, cooling down is a deeply carnivorous affair.
Siberian tigers, whose natural habitat leans more toward frigid taigas, received electrolyte-rich ice cakes packed with raw chicken and calcium-dense beef leg bones. The frozen blocks double as thermal regulation and behavioral enrichment, requiring the big cats to lick, chew and claw their way to a protein-rich payoff.
Across the grounds, aquatic and semi-aquatic residents faced their own bespoke summer menus.
Hippopotamuses were treated to chilled watermelons while South American sea lions and spotted seals put on dynamic aquatic displays as zookeepers introduced live catfish into their pools, reigniting their natural hunting instincts to help them splash away heat-induced lethargy.
At the elephant complex, keepers tossed stalks of sweet sugarcane into their swimming pools, enticing three Asian elephants to submerge completely, creating a rare underwater spectacle as the pachyderms dove to retrieve them. Meanwhile, desert-native meerkats navigated custom ice beds to keep their paws cool, and jumped for raw chickens the keepers had suspended in their enclosure to encourage foraging behaviors in the oppressive humidity.
"Extended heat waves drastically sap physical vitality from animals, making thermal management and nutritional care a top health priority," Park Jin-soon, director of Seoul Grand Park, said. "By combining essential nutrients and vitamins with interactive behavioral enrichment, we aim to safeguard their immunity, maintain their natural energy and ensure every resident stays healthy through the summer's peak."
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.