COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Admission was free at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for families all day on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

NBC4’s Elyse Chengery spent the day at the zoo to see how they protect the animals in the cold.

The zookeepers monitor the weather every day. They actually have parameters year round to make sure the animals are safe in the snow, rain and cold temperatures.

Lewis Greene is the Senior Vice President for Animal Care & Conservation. He explains how the tigers were loving the atmosphere on Monday

“They’re found in Siberia so this is a good day for them. The polar bears, they’re having a great day today. We have things that we look at to make sure that all the species have the right environment, the right habitat in order to be comfortable. There are times with our elephants you wouldn’t normally expect to see them out in the snow but occasionally we’ll give them the ability to go out if they want to or they can stay inside.”

Visitors were excited to see how many animals were out enjoying this snow.

Natalie Noyes was glad they made the drive from Lancaster saying, “The red pandas were really cute they were up in the tree and the tiger just being out here roaring is kind of cool you don’t get to see that all the time.”

“We were really surprised at how many were out. Really thankful we got to see nearly as many as we did. We actually didn’t think that we were going to see any of the big cats but yeah he absolutely he didn’t look like he was cold at all. He looked like he was right at home,” said Aaron Head

One tiger was loving the snow so much that he fell asleep in it!

The 591 species at the zoo all have different requirements, according to Greene.

“One of the things that’s important for the animals we care for here is as much as possible to give the choices to where they want to be what they want to do. And we do this 365 days a year and we’ve been doing it since 1927,” Greene said.

The zoo says since they know not all the animals will be out in this weather, they offer half-price tickets for visitors in January and February.