As the Rio Grande Valley braces for a sharp drop in temperatures Thursday evening by weatherproofing homes and bringing in pets, another local institution is also hard at work against the cold.
This week zoo keepers and curators at the Gladys Porter Zoo have been keeping a weather eye on the forecast as they prepare their charges against the expected low temperatures.
“We are always making sure that we are aware of what the weather is doing,” Associate Curator of Birds Toni Torres said.
Torres and staff were busy on Dec. 20 bringing in two of their American flamingos back to the bird breeding complex to stay warm until conditions improve. While both species of flamingo, Chilean and American, at the zoo can tolerate colder temperatures, Torres explains, young and elderly birds are more vulnerable to extreme temperature changes.
Once the temperature drops below 50 degrees, Torres and her staff use heat lamps and windbreaks as needed for the roughly 50 species in her care. Some enclosures also have built-in barns for the birds to shelter within.
American flamingos 07 and 64, both elderly, will need a little extra help staying warm, whereas the rest of the flock will be fine with the heated pool and windbreak in their habitat.
The two flamingos led Torres and keepers Yvonne Gonzalez and Iliana Martinez on a small chase as they evaded all attempts to gently bring them in by, in turn, playing keep-away in the center of their heated pool. Eventually, keepers carefully corraled the birds for a short ride to their temporary quarters, where they settled together under a heater.
Earlier in the morning, primate keepers Mona Montez and Megan McFeeders ventured out in a boat to bring 7-year-old black and white ruffed lemur, Empanada, out of the cold from the island she shares with a group of ring-tailed lemurs. Native to Madagascar, this lemur would, in her native habitat, be used to occasional colder temperatures Walter Dupree the Curator of Mammals, says that living in South Texas, the animals do not have the tolerance.
“They are not used to it. Here it is warm all the time, and we worry more about the temperatures dropping rapidly than we do about a slow, gradual drop in temperature like what happens in the north,” Dupree said.
Their main concern is to avoid frostbite, which can affect their tails and fingers— and above all, to prevent the animals from going into shock.
Empanada is also in a very different situation than her fellow lemurs—since she is an outcast from the group of black and white ruffed lemurs—which is why she lives separately. Each island has heaters and spaces for the lemurs to stay out of the cold and remain comfortable, but Empanada is a case of concern for Dupree and his staff.
“It is just when you have somebody like her who is an outcast from her group—and kind of from the ring-tailed lemurs who get along with her—we just worry about her not getting to a heater,” he said.
After a few carefully applied treats of grapes and an opportunity to rub her scent on the kennel, Empanada gets inside to travel back in the boat with Montez and McFeeders to her private heated enclosure, where she can weather out the cold until things improve on Monday or Tuesday.
Dupree estimates that of the roughly 700 mammals in the zoo, nearly 100% will be removed from exhibition or retreat to warmed areas in their habitats as temperatures continue to drop and staff evaluates the needs of their charges.
“Pretty much over the next couple of days, we will not have a lot out,” he said.
