DENIZENS OF THE ZOO.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 315, 21 November 1929, Page 6

DENIZENS OF THE ZOO.

THEIR DAILY MENU. Nearly 50,000 dollars (£10,000) a year is the total butcher, grocer, greengrocer and fish bill for the 3000 living creatures in the New .York Zoological Park (says the Scientific American). The kitchens are out of the beaten track. At certain times of the day a peculiar type of push cart starts out on the journey to the . widely-separated animal and bird houses, and its arrival is apt to be received with audible marks oi delight. Through the service roads come the supplies to the commissary department. The mammals require daily 250 pounds of beef, 50 pounds of fish, 175 loaves of bread, 1 ton of hay, 15 bushels of grain, 100 heads of cabbage, 450 bananas, 150 apples, 50 oranges and 25 quarts of milk. This is not all, but the full list would tire. Some of the big snakes are content with a quick lunch every three or four weeks. A small pig is a delightful morsel but is rather distending for the first three days. The rarer the animal the more expensive the diet. The short-lived duck-billed platypus used to .consume over 4.50 dollars’ worth of meal worms and shrimps every day. Even this did not keep away the grim reaper. Everybody and everything eats, in the Zoo, and there is never any talk of the high cost of provisions.