Local families and summer camp groups of small children make their way around Columbia’s Riverbanks Zoo. Their sun visors visible, handheld fans wave in front of faces. Towels drape around their necks to cool off under the South Carolina heat.
Alyson Proveaux, the zoo’s curator of mammals, says that, just as humans do, the animals have natural ways of thermoregulation. Zookeepers find ways to assist as well.
In the sea lion exhibit, the roughly 300,000 gallon pool holding the three sea lions never rises above 70 degrees…