Drusillas Zoo Park monkeys treated to ice lollies to keep cool

Keepers are Drusillas Park near Alfriston are finding creative ways to keep furry, feathered and scaly friends cool as we have another spot of warm weather coming over the weekend.

They have been pulling out all the stops to keep their animals cool by making sure they have access to additional water sources, spraying them with hoses and sprinklers, giving them paddling pools and creating extra shaded areas where they can keep out of the sun.

Colobus monkeys tried ice lollies with sweetcorn inside (Image: Drusillas Zoo Park)

But some of the keepers have been getting creative by making food-layered ice lollies, with recipes including fish juice, coconut water, mint tea, herbs and vegetables.

The park’s monkeys, lemurs and servals delighted in investigating the refreshing treats, licking and rolling them around and even squabbling over who could get the most.

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The cooling concoctions served up included a fish juice icy for serval cat Ninja, mint tea lollies for critically endangered macaques Moteck and Lintang, sweetcorn ice cubes for red-handed tamarins Isla, Kiwa and Bowie and a combination of vegetable and herb flavours for the zoo’s groups of squirrel monkeys, colobus monkeys and lemurs.

Spider monkeys investigating their frozen treats (Image: Drusillas Zoo Park)

Senior keeper Jacinta Dawe said: “We use these ice lollies to keep the animals cool in the heat because animals do not sweat in the same way humans do.

"Ultimately, the animals are after the rewards hidden inside the ice, but as they grab, lick, nibble and break down the ice lollies to get the food, their mouths and paws are cooled.

"The food hidden inside is carefully measured and taken from their normal daily food allowance so although it’s lots of fun to see them with ice lollies, they still sit within their monitored diets.

“Ice lollies are a great way to keep the animals cool, but they also serve an enrichment purpose as well. Making the animals work for their food in creative ways, helps to stimulate them mentally and physically and forces them to use their instincts to look for food as they would in the wild.”