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What’s in the Commissary?

Watts receives food from about 100 different
vendors—both near and far. This includes:
• Meat and meat products. Bones that keep animals’
teeth clean and their minds occupied.
• Fish ranging in size from very small to large,
including herring, capelin, smelt, and silversides.
Some animals receive shrimp, clams, crayfish,
squid, and mussels.
• Fresh vegetables, including seven types of greens,
carrots, sweet potatoes, and cucumbers.
• Fresh fruit, including pineapple, kiwi, mango,
strawberries, papaya, guava, and watermelon.
• Commercially prepared feeds formulated for
specific species of exotic animals. They contain
all the nutrients —including amino acids, vitamins,
Above: A staff member weighs out food for a zoo animal following Watts' recipe posted on the white board. and minerals—animals need and come in various
shapes, flavors, and textures.
• Grasses and hay, including alfalfa, grass, and
Q: What do you do if there is little or Timothy hay.
no nutritional data about a species? • Browse—the leaves, branches, and shoots of
“Most of the time we have some idea of where to start,” said Watts. trees and bushes. Through Brookfield Zoo’s
For example, to formulate a diet for a species of primate she knows Browse Program with ComEd, their crews deliver
little about, Watts can reference the nutritional requirements of cuttings from pre-approved trees and bushes.
a similar species or use the known nutrient requirements of a Chewing on browse cleans the animals’ teeth,
well-studied domestic species. provides mental and physical stimulation,
She may base the diet of a ruminant zoo animal—such as a bison, and lets them engage in natural behaviors.
antelope, or reindeer—on the nutrient requirements of dairy cows, • Whole prey, including lizards, mice, and rabbits
which are also ruminants and mainly eat a diet of grass. (Since grass for some of the carnivorous animals. Bow hunters
is difficult to digest, ruminants regurgitate their food and “chew their bring in whole deer for our Mexican wolf pack
cud.” They have a stomach chamber called a rumen where bacteria and Watts purchases goat carcasses for the African
break down grass into cellulose.) The animal’s size and energy painted dog pack. For animals that live and hunt
requirements are factors Watts considers as well. in complex social groupings, whole-carcass feeding
mimics conditions in the wild where animals
Q: Does an animal receive the same foods hunt in packs.
every day? • Live insects, including meal worms, wax worms,
and crickets. [Fun fact: The zoo receives
For many animals, ingredients are rotated every other day to keep 20,000 crickets a week.]
them from getting bored. A porcupine or a red river hog might • Eggs, nuts, and seeds
receive cucumbers one day and carrots the next, for example. • Nutritional supplements
“Our brown bears go through huge seasonal diet changes so
we have to take that into account,” said Watts. From December to Do you want to donate nutritious goodies to our
about April, they are in torpor, a state of light sleep often confused animals? Although Brookfield Zoo cannot accept food
with hibernation. At such a low activity level, the brothers Axhi and donations, you can send goodies directly to our animals
Jim only need 1,000 daily calories during these months. However, by participating in the AmazonSmile Charity Lists
in late summer, they are fed 12,000 calories per day. The brothers, program. See the program’s description on page 12
like their cousins in the wild, need to put on extra weight to sustain of this Gateways. Thank you.
them during torpor.
The idea that seasonal diets can benefit animals in managed care
is a recent one. After all, in the wild, different plants and prey animals
are available at different times of the year. Watts is on the cutting-edge
of this and has been formulating seasonal diets for the zoo’s animals.

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