It’s sploot season: Animals strike a pose to chill out

A bear chills in Katmai National Park & Preserve. Bears will sometimes dig a hole to fit their belly before splooting on a warm day. Image: NPS/M. Walker

We’re baking in the dog days of summer, so some animals are cooling off with a little ‘sploot.’ This is where they sprawl out, typically with their faces down and arms and legs sticking out at the side. 

Squirrels are infamous “splooters,” particularly in areas prone to the urban heat island effect. Sunny Corrao of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation told NPR,  “They’re trying to find a cool space, and if they can put as much of their core body on to a cool space, then the heat is going to transfer from their bodies to the other surface. So in the case of squirrels, you’ll often see them maybe on a shady sidewalk, or a park path, or in the grass, just splayed out.”

Enjoy ‘splootacular’ photos while you can. It will be frozen iguanas falling out of trees season before we know it.

Desert tortoise at Joshua Tree National Park. Image: NPS / Hannah Schwalbe

A yellow-bellied marmot in Grand Teton National Park. Image: NPS

A squirrel sploots on a rock face in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Image: NPS/A. Mazzucco

Bear 151 spreads legs at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Image: NPS Photo/F. Jimenez

Yellow-bellied marmots only spend up to two hours each day above ground. Image: NPS/Diane Renkin

A grey squirrel sploots to keep cool. Image: DepositPhotos

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