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Curious City

What Happens To The Lincoln Park Zoo Animals In The Winter?

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8642 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2018

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Do the animals go somewhere warm, like Florida? Does the zoo give them coats? We took a behind-the-scene tour of the zoo to find out.




Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Stephanie's stump was walking through the Lincoln Park Zoo one cold winter night with a friend.

0:05.0

And they noticed there were no animals in sight.

0:08.0

We were just wondering what happens to the animals when it gets cold, where do they go?

0:12.0

Especially the warm weather animals.

0:14.0

Do they ship them down to Florida?

0:17.0

And she wondered if they stay inside all winter, doesn't that drive them nuts?

0:21.7

Because I know I get cabin fever in the winter, so imagine how they must feel.

0:26.8

I'm Catherine Nagasawa, Curious City's multimedia producer.

0:30.2

And it turns out the zoo animals don't actually head to Florida for the winter.

0:33.7

But Stephanie's concern about cabin fever is real.

0:37.0

Animals get stressed when confined to small indoor

0:39.2

spaces. It can even affect their health. So I take Stephanie to the Lincoln Park Zoo to learn how

0:44.6

they help animals cope with winter. We speak to general curator Dave Bernier, who explains

0:50.5

the zoo gets the animals outside as much as possible. We know that the animals prefer to be outside or they prefer to have more room.

0:57.0

But not all of them can handle cold weather.

1:00.0

And the zoo divides animals into three categories, each requiring a different strategy.

1:04.0

There are cold tolerant animals who don't need much help in the winter.

1:08.0

There are weather-hardy animals that can go outside a little, but also need help staying

1:11.8

comfortable.

1:12.8

And most challenging, there are temper animals who only make it outside on the mildest winter

1:18.0

days, so the zoo staff has to get creative to stave off the cabin fever.

1:23.7

Starting with the cold tolerant animals, Bernier says as often as possible, the zoo looks

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