How animals beat the heat

West Palm Beach, FLA - At Lion Country Safari you can tell it's the middle of summer.

"Everybody takes a little more siestas this time of year," said Terry Wolf, Wildlife Director for Lion Country Safari.

And why not! Lying in the shade conserves energy and keeps the animals a little safer.

"Heat stress is something that probably affects more animals than cold stress," said Wolf.

But everyone at Lion Country cools off a little differently.

"This is how the ostrich keeps cool, as you see she's open-mouth breathing, it helps her release more hot air," said Wolf as we stood next to a large ostrich.

And a good many animals take to the water, even the animals that aren't very good in the water, like chimps.

"They don't swim, they can't swim, it's physically impossible for them to swim. They weigh the same thing in water that they weigh out of water. But they know the shallow spots, and like any good bather he's sitting on the bottom just cooling off," said Wolf of one of the chimps.

And the staff at Lion Country is always cooking up some chilly treats, like popsicles... sort of.

"The lions will get blood-sicles with a little blood in the water, the tapers and (others) will get fruit and vegetables in a frozen bucket or something. That gives them something to play with, keep them entertained, and something to cool off with," said Wolf.

And you may be surprised to know, or maybe not, that if an animal gets overheated the treatment is very similar to the way you would treat a person.

"Cold compresses, running water, we run ice in, get them in the shade, get them as cool as we can as quickly as we can. Just like you do with people," said Wolf.

But because many animals don't release heat as efficiently as humans, timing is crucial.

"If they overheat, the blood overheats in their bodies and they're not able to dissipate the heat, they can have brain damage in a matter of minutes," said Wolf.

So the bottom line is. it's hot, we're hot, and we all kind of need the same things living down here.

"Make sure that everybody has shelter and shade, and plenty of water. And if we fill that need, they're going to be happy," said Wolf.