On Monday, the Philadelphia Zoo was buzzing with excitement despite clouds obscuring the eclipse. Families flocked to the zoo to witness the rare celestial event and observe the animals. Dawn Polansky, who visited the zoo during the last eclipse in 2017, wanted to share the experience with her family. She came prepared with solar glasses to watch the animals’ reactions this time around.
The Philadelphia Zoo is participating in a citizen science project called the Solar Eclipse Safari, organized by SciStarter. Visitors observed and tracked animal behavior before, during, and after the eclipse, contributing valuable data to the project. Since eclipses are rare events, there is limited information on how animals respond to them. Data collected during this event will be analyzed to learn more about animal behavior during eclipses. While many people were thrilled by the eclipse, most animals seemed unaffected by it.
Philadelphia Zoo’s Mission Integration Director, Dani Hogan, reassured visitors that the animals would likely be fine as the zoo was not in the path of complete totality. To the animals, the eclipse would likely just appear as a passing cloud. The zoo staff also took extra precautions such as making sure all animals had enough water and food and that they were comfortable in their enclosures during this time
