Norway heat: Penguins losing their cool
NTB/The Local - [email protected]
Published: 9 Jul, 2014 CET.
Updated: Wed 9 Jul 2014 19:13 CET
Hot weather across most of Norway this summer has not been welcomed by one group of Arctic birds and their keepers.
Norway's penguins are suffering in above average hot weather across the country and many birds have had to endure temperatures exceeding 30-degrees celsius. Zoo keepers are having to take extraordinary precautions to keep the birds cool.
Penguins are at risk of heatstroke. Although the last recorded death of a penguin from heatstroke in Norway was 14 years ago, zoos are on red alert to watch the birds over-heating.
Kees Oscar Ekeli, managing director of Bergen Aquarium, said to Bergen's Tidende: "Alarm bells ring when we get close to 25 degrees." The aquarium has been trying to avoid a penguin over-heating crisis by using cold water sprinklers to cool down the birds even when they are in the water. "If they are drooping their beaks and breathing heavily, that is a sign of danger. We pump sea water from 120 meters below the surface from the city fjord. This water keeps [a temperature of] 8 to 10 degrees and the penguins get the cool down that they need." With temperatures exceeding 25-degrees all over Norway and, in many places, soaring into the 30s - both mankind and penguins beware!
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Norway's penguins are suffering in above average hot weather across the country and many birds have had to endure temperatures exceeding 30-degrees celsius. Zoo keepers are having to take extraordinary precautions to keep the birds cool.
Penguins are at risk of heatstroke. Although the last recorded death of a penguin from heatstroke in Norway was 14 years ago, zoos are on red alert to watch the birds over-heating.
Kees Oscar Ekeli, managing director of Bergen Aquarium, said to Bergen's Tidende: "Alarm bells ring when we get close to 25 degrees."
The aquarium has been trying to avoid a penguin over-heating crisis by using cold water sprinklers to cool down the birds even when they are in the water.
"If they are drooping their beaks and breathing heavily, that is a sign of danger. We pump sea water from 120 meters below the surface from the city fjord. This water keeps [a temperature of] 8 to 10 degrees and the penguins get the cool down that they need."
With temperatures exceeding 25-degrees all over Norway and, in many places, soaring into the 30s - both mankind and penguins beware!
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