Residents find ways to adapt to record high temperatures

AL-AHSA: The Kingdom has registered 50 degrees centigrade this summer, the highest temperature in 163 years, according to the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME).
Saudi Arabia, which occupies the biggest geographical area on the Arabian Peninsula, is known for its hot weather and harsh desert, but every corner on earth has its own characteristics, and human beings, fauna and flora are quite able to adapt to their environs.
This summer’s scorching temperatures prompted some to shoot some video clips capturing nature’s creatures trying to cope with the burning sun.
One video clip that appeared on the social media suggested that the animals that can adapt best to the heat are lizards, because of their small size.
In the clip, a lizard had taken refuge in the shade of the car of the person shooting it, standing still as if to preserve all the energy it needed to cope with the heat.
In another clip, a haggard, thirsty wolf is given water by the man shooting the video, and in yet another, goats in the market are shown barely bearing the heat.
The shepherd, Mustafa Mohammad, said: “It has become natural to come in the afternoon and find our sheep dead because of the high temperatures, so we spread water on them at different times to ensure the survival of the flock.”
He said losses have been minimal so far, but “I hope the harsh weather conditions will not continue because it may later on affect prices for sheep and goat merchants.”
In another clip, youths are seen putting a cat on the burning asphalt, and laughing when it runs away like lightning bolt in search of some shade.
A group of Indian residents in the Kingdom decided to save on cooking gas and went on to cook their eggs directly under the direct sun, rather than in the kitchen, and surprisingly the egg was cooked quite well.
Some comments on the clip said that this would be a good way to take advantage of the weather condition.
The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment said temperatures were expected to go higher on Thursday and Friday, and then start going down gradually in the coming days, accompanied by dust and hot winds.