Picture special: London Zoo’s gorillas and monkeys get icy treats as temperatures soar

Animals at ZSL London Zoo were spotted chilling out during the mercury-busting temperatures this week.

With temperatures soaring in excess of 30 degrees zoo animals including a family of endangered Western lowland gorillas and some Bolivian monkeys have been spoiled rotten with ice lollies.

The treats, made of frozen fruit tea and nuts, are designed to cool down the furry north London inhabitants during the current heatwave, even if the hot weather is hardly unlike the west African tropical rainforests they species live in in the wild.

Zookeeper Jacob Winfield said: “The animals here are very much enjoying the warm weather.

“All over the Zoo we’ve been giving out frozen cooling treats – this morning the gorillas have had frozen iced tea cakes with walnuts and the squirrel monkeys have enjoyed lollies made from squash and chickpeas.

Other animals have been finding ways to cool off, too.

Jacob added: “Elsewhere the Sumatran tigers have been swimming in their pool and the Asiatic lions have been dipping their toes in their moat whenever they’ve wanted to take a break from basking in the glorious sunshine.”