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Here's how the animals at the Indianapolis Zoo are coping with the cold

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Posted

INDIANAPOLIS — We're in the thick of winter with cold temperatures and snow on the ground.

How are the animals at the Indianapolis Zoo handling winter? Some species like the season more than others.

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Many animals are equipped to handle the cold, like the Amur tiger. While some wild tigers live in warm climates, many live in the snow and cold in places like Russia or China.

Pavel is one of the tigers at the zoo. His fur has grown out, equipping him for the season.

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"You'll definitely see animals like Pavel be more active," Cody Mattox with the Indianapolis Zoo said. "Running around in the snow, rolling around in the snow, they have toys they'll go out and play with."

These are not the only animals. Mattox listed the red pandas, Alaskan bears, sea lions, and Pacific walrus as other animals that enjoy being more active in the cold.

Mattox went on to describe the tigers seeing snow falling.

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"They just walked out in the middle of their habitat, and they just watched the snow," he recalled. "They looked like they were just in amazement."

Other animals also watched the snow falling, but they were in the warmth of the indoors.

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"I was seeing some of the chimpanzees up by the window, and they were just watching the snowfall," Mattox said. "They were very fascinated by it. They're probably kind of like how we feel where... we don't really want to interact with the snow either."

All the animals at the zoo have cut-off temperatures that dictate when they can and cannot be outdoors.

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While indoors, animals are offered enrichment activities to keep them engaged. For chimpanzees, this can include foraging and problem-solving, which they would do in the natural world.

While they do this, the chimps like to stay cozy.

"You'll see some of the chimpanzees literally wrap themselves in blankets and snuggling up," Mattox said.

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The animals build little nests with their blankets, hay, and newspapers.

Other animals that are indoors include the animals in the Oceans building, the Desert building, and the orangutans.

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In the Desert building, the meerkats were scurrying. The lizards, iguanas, and tortoises all circled around their lamps.

At the front of the zoo, the seals and sea lions were swimming circles in their pool.

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The walrus' were playing with a plastic barrel toy in their pool.

While the animals come from around the world, they're just like us this season: just making it through another Indiana winter.