BROWNSVILLE – Visitors to Gladys Porter Zoo may not get a glimpse of animals in the outdoor exhibits over the next couple days.
BROWNSVILLE – Visitors to Gladys Porter Zoo may not get a glimpse of animals in the outdoor exhibits over the next couple days.
Staff readied the zoo’s barns Tuesday morning to shelter the animals as temperatures continued to dip. The National Weather Service is forecasting freezing weather early Wednesday.
“Because this is going to be exceptionably cold, there’s going to be hardly anything out for the next two days,” Walter Dupree, the zoo’s mammal curator, said. “Once it gets into the 40s, that’s when we start to worry.”
Dupree said zookeepers are ensuring barns are clean, stocked with plenty of hay and that heating systems are running properly. The gorillas, chimps and orangutans all have controlled air conditioning and heating units in their enclosures.
The great apes are susceptible to colds just as humans are, Dupree said. While the cold front won’t cause illness, the shock from low temperatures could make them more vulnerable.
Night keepers will monitor the animals and make sure heating systems stay up and running.
The zoo’s reptile, aquatics and Australia exhibits will remain open, and gorillas will be in their indoor exhibit.
