Beijing, January 12 (Reporter Song Yusheng) Since the "March 9th", Beijing has entered the coldest period of the year.
For ordinary people, the way to cope with the cold is nothing more than "wearing cotton clothes and cotton hats" and "hiding in the heating room without going out".
But how do the animals in the zoo survive the winter? The reporter walked into the Beijing Zoo on the 10th to find out.
An elephant tortoise that winters in the Beijing Zoo. Photo by Liu Chao, a reporter from China News Network
In the view of He Shaochun, deputy captain of the breeding team at the Beijing Zoo, heating animals is not particularly hot as soon as it is heated, or it is particularly cold without heating, and moderate temperature is the "king's way".
The first question is, do all the animals in the zoo need to be cold and warm? The answer is no.
For example, polar bears living in the cold zone, the colder the happier; the cute giant pandas, can also calmly face the winter, their fur protection is very strong; and animals like alpacas with their own "warm underwear", you can find them in the outdoor sports field at any time.
However, there are still many animals that need to take cold and warm measures.
The reporter learned that the Beijing Zoo implemented phased cold protection and warmth protection measures according to the habits of animals and temperature changes.
As early as September, a large number of animals afraid of cold enjoyed the "preferential policy" of early heating.
There is also a basis for early heating. For example, when the night temperature is lower than 14 °C for 3 consecutive days, it is necessary to take heating measures for tropical monkeys, reptiles, etc., to ensure that the temperature in the animal house reaches more than 20 °C; when the night temperature is lower than 9 °C for 3 consecutive days, it is necessary to take heating measures for tropical animals such as chimpanzees, gibbons, Malay tapirs, elephants, etc., to ensure that the temperature in the animal house reaches more than 15 °C.
In addition to the traditional heating equipment heating, the zoo has other heating "artifacts".
Beijing Zoo, a hippopotamus that is wintering. Photo by Song Yusheng, a reporter from China News Network
For example, for hippos that soak in water all year round, heating is obviously not enough.
Zhao Jinyuan, head of the Rhino HippoPotamus Museum at the Beijing Zoo, told reporters that hippos spend most of the day in the water. "In addition to feeding and part of the rest being on the shore, they spend about two-thirds to three-quarters of the day in the water."
In order to keep the hippos warm for the winter, the zoo should ensure that the room temperature of the hippos' coops is kept above 20 ° C as much as possible.
How to keep the water temperature above 20 ° C? "When we added water to the barn, there was an exchanger. Hot water lines and water lines together. Using a hot water line to preheat the water pipeline that flows through it can increase the temperature of the tap water. Specifically, at how many degrees we want to keep, we will control the water temperature through the temperature control knuckle door. Zhao Jinyuan said.
This is actually equivalent to providing a constant temperature pool for hippos.
For the large anteaters living in temperate and subtropical regions, their wintering "artifact" is the bath bully.
The bath bully in the big anteater's cabin. Photo by Liu Chao, a reporter from China News Network
He Shaochun, deputy captain of the breeding team of Beijing Zoo, introduced that in the living area of large anteaters, the temperature of heating is gradient - traditional heating ensures that the room temperature reaches more than 18 ° C; and in order to provide a comfortable living environment, the breeder also specially added a bath bully, and the temperature here can reach about 30 ° C.
He Shaochun said: "In this small environment, from 18 ° C to 30 ° C. This gives the animal a choice and can find the temperature that suits it best in the venue. At the same time, we will also manually adjust the humidity, if it is too dry, we will add water to the pool. ”
Different animal species, of course, living environment is also different. For tortoises native to islands in the Indian Ocean, only heating and bathing are not enough.
Breeder Qiao Yilun admits that the original habitat of these tortoises does not have four seasons, only divided into dry seasons and rainy seasons; and the temperature is relatively constant, and the temperature of the original habitat is about 20-30 ° C. At the same time, turtles are reptiles and cannot control their body temperature, so they need a relatively stable temperature to ensure normal life.
To this end, the zoo adopts the technology of fan coiling, which blows hot air from the top of the animal house and heats up quickly. This creates an environment similar to its original habitat.
At the same time, the tortoise's animal house must also be equipped with two kinds of lights.
"One is a 275-watt infrared bath bulb, which can reach more than forty degrees in a short period of time; the other lamp is imitating the sun, which has UVA and UVB ultraviolet rays, because the tortoise cannot go outdoors in winter, this lamp can give the tortoise calcium by imitating daylight." Qiao Yilun said.
Enjoy the tortoises of the bathers and sun lights. Photo by Liu Chao, a reporter from China News Network
At the same time, because tortoises live on islands, the local humidity can reach 70%-80%. Qiao Yilun introduced: "We built a pool in the animal house. If the tortoise feels that the room is too hot, it will also take a bath in the water to cool down and relieve the heat. ”
The big winter still needs to relieve the heat, and the winter of the tortoise is also too comfortable.
In addition to these hardware conditions, keepers will also improve the software conditions for animal warmth through feed adjustments, such as providing high-calorie foods such as alfalfa granules and cooked black beans to herbivores to increase the animals' ability to withstand severe cold.
After seeing the tricks of these animals to warm up in the winter, how does your "three nines" keep warm? (End)