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TCM theory inspires zoo keepers helping animals get through winter
Online Edition
ZOO keepers in the city are adding food rich in nutrition and calories into animals' feed and installing heaters to protect them from the cold as winter starts.
The period around dongzhi, or winter solstice which falls on December 22 this year, is the best time of nourishing with food to strengthen yang energy in winter according to traditional Chinese medicine theory, and such theory also inspires “chefs” at the Shanghai Wildlife Park.
To keep animals warm, zoo keepers feed herbivores like giraffes, rhinoceros and blue wildebeests from the Africa with nutritious alfalfa plants and add vitamin into their pellet feed.
African lions and cheetahs are treated with extra fresh high-calorie beef and mutton, while chimpanzees and ring-tailed lemurs have milk, eggs, red dates and peanuts added into their recipe.
The amount of animals' feed has been increased at the park as well.
Hippos from Africa are particularly vulnerable to the chill. Their swimming pool have been installed with heating pipes that can keep a constant temperature of 17 degrees.
The indoor temperature at the pavilions of chimpanzees and mandrills is kept at 20 degrees with oil heaters used, while four air conditioners are used at the home of giraffes.
When it is not cold, these animals are allowed outside to have a walk.
The Shanghai Zoo have also added floor heating for animals like mongooses and wolves and air conditioners for marmosets.
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