(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Humans aren't the only ones who like a cold, sweet treat on hot summer days.
On Tuesday, zoo visitors watched as a chimpanzee at Lincoln Park Zoo was enjoying a big block of ice made out of sugar-free flavoring.
"As the water is running off, he's kind of catching it, and as it melts a little bit more, it starts to run off again and so ll kind of he'll catch it with his mouth," said General Curator Dave Bernier.
Bernier said it's one of the Zoo's many methods of "special enrichment" for animals during the heat.
"For the lions, we have several cooling areas where we actually have machines pumping out air conditioned air into spaces. By our polar bear area we also have an ice wall that you can feel, it's like a frozen block of steel that kind of takes water from the air and condenses."
He says the animals feel the heat just as much as we do.
"The keepers really feel that way. They can look right into the eyes of the animals when they're working and the animals in the same space like 'yeah, we're both hot.' So I think they can really commiserate with them and understand the need for cooling, the need for hydration, those kinds of things."
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