KANSAS CITY, Mo. - When the moon blocks the sun during Monday's solar eclipse, zookeepers at the Kansas City Zoo aren’t entirely sure how the animals will react.
For most of the animals at the zoo, this will be their first experience with a solar eclipse.
“We'll have the keepers staff out watching animals to see what their reaction is, but as far as then the sun coming back up, it'll be interesting to see their reaction there,” explained Sean Putney, the senior director of zoological operations.
Zookeepers have their theories on what the animals will do. But they won’t know for certain until the moment occurs.
“They might think that a storm is approaching because it's getting a little darker and then once the full eclipse happens and it's very dark, I'm sure that those animals will just stay put and stay where they're at,” Putney hypothesized.
Science News reports animals behave in a variety of different ways during an eclipse. There is anecdotal evidence of birds stopping to chirp, chimpanzees pointing at the sun, and bees returning to the hive.
The California Academy of Sciences launched the Life Responds program to better record how animals behave. The group is asking people to download an app to their smartphones and submit wildlife observations to the academy during the eclipse.
The path of totality does not reach the Kansas City Zoo. The animals will experience a partial eclipse, although it will be about 99 percent full.
The zoo is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, so you can see how the animals react yourself.
