“Sploot” is a recently invented word for heat-dumping — when animals like dogs and rabbits lie flat on their stomachs on the ground, with all four limbs splayed out, to help disperse the heat.

Squirrels seen splooting in Central Park this week prompted New York City’s parks department to reassure residents that the behavior was healthy — indeed, splooting spotting is nothing new for the city, where squirrel splooters were spied sprawling on fire escapes in the summer of 2019. Going forward, we may need to try some splooting ourselves.