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“We can’t replicate any animal’s actual diet because we
Feeding continued don’t have a number of the plants or fruits they consume in
the wild,” said Watts. Brookfield Zoo’s animals eat the same
Q: Who feeds the animals? cultivated foods people eat. “We’ve domesticated fruit to be

Starting at 6 a.m., Watts’ staff begins to prepare food for the higher in sugar and water, and lower in fiber,” said Watts,
animals, which takes much of the day. They work in the zoo’s “and that’s not what they eat in the wild.” A diet of high-
commissary, a building on zoo grounds where most of the food sugar fruit can cause obesity and other health problems.
is received from vendors and stored. Using Watts’ recipes written For most animals, fresh fruit is an occasional treat.
on whiteboards on the walls, they assemble containers of food.
Since the 100-year-old commissary building is small, the food Q: If you don’t have foods the animals
for many of the animals can’t be weighed and portioned out there. would eat in the wild, what do you do?
So bins full of food are delivered to satellite food-prep areas near Watts bases an animal’s diet on the percentages of nutrients
animal exhibits. At feeding time, using the recipes supplied by reported by field researchers and not on the actual foods them-
Watts that are precise to the gram, Animal Care staff weigh selves. For example, say a wild animal’s diet is found to consist
and prepare foods for each animal in their area. of 70 percent leaves and 30 percent fruit containing 15 percent
Some animals are fed with automatic timed feeders that protein, 5 percent fat, 0.7 percent calcium. “We use foods available
introduce an element of surprise and unpredictability into to us to come as close as possible to these percentages,” said Watts.
their days. “We also like to get blood values for wild animals because that
gives us some idea of what their natural circulating vitamin and
mineral levels are supposed to be and we can try to hit those
in our own collection.”
And importantly, an animal’s anatomy—including its
gastrointestinal tract, lip shape, and type and placement of
teeth—determine what foods it can eat.
Q: Are animals of the same species fed
the same diet?

An animal at Brookfield Zoo gets a custom diet formulated
especially for the animal; there is not one diet for all the animals
of a particular species. Watts considers many factors including
an individual animal’s life stage, health status, and energy level.
She asks herself questions such as: Is it a growing young animal
or an older animal? Is it breeding, pregnant, or nursing? Is it obese
Above: A Bactrian camel gets some special enrichment from Watts. or underweight? Is it sick or recovering from a surgery? Does it
have missing teeth that makes chewing difficult? Is it sedentary
Q: How often are they fed? or active?
It can vary from twice a day for primates and large carnivores Watts keeps several types of formula on hand in case a neonate
to once every few weeks for large reptiles. can’t be cared for by its mother.
Q: How do you know what to feed Q: Do particular species have unique
a particular species? nutritional requirements?

“The gold standard for understanding what nutrients animals Watts accounts for species-specific requirements. For example,
need are studies in the wild,” said Watts. She recently identified she makes sure birds receive adequate calcium in their diets
a vitamin D deficiency in the zoo’s Humboldt penguins, which to prevent the shells of their eggs from softening or breaking.
may have affected the animals’ fertility. This was possible because Primates and guinea pigs don’t make vitamin C in their bodies,
data on the levels of vitamins and minerals in the blood of so they have to get it in their diets. New World primates, such
Humboldt penguins had been collected by field researchers as marmosets, have a vitamin D requirement that is three times
through our research programs in Punta San Juan, Peru. “We’ll higher than that of other primates. Watts worked with a company
start the penguins on a vitamin D supplement before breeding that makes nutritionally balanced diets for primates to develop
season and see if we get increased chick production next year.” a high-vitamin-D version for marmosets.

28 GATEWAYS | FEEDING 2,400 HUNGRY MOUTHS