FEEDING TIME AT THE ZOO

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 38, 7 May 1927, Page 10

FEEDING TIME AT THE ZOO

Sponge Cake for Finches . . . The Armadillo Has To Be Tempted . . . Huge Supplies of Fish

YX7HAT do the animals and birds of the Auckland Zoo eat?

Apples and spice and everything nice? With the exception of spice they certainly have “everything nice” in the way of food. Hot potatoes, sponge cake, beatenup egg, kumeras and condensed milk all find a place on the daily menu of the zoo denizens. But there are other foods. Lions and tigers could not be expected to look well-nourished on a diet of sponge cake and egg. They nibble a healthy, juicy leg of cow or horse to avert the pangs of hunger. Every Thursday the meat-eaters have a fast day so far as meat is concerned, and satisfy themselves with a little nourishing green food. HOT POTATOES

Strangely enough the monkeys enjoy a breakfast of hot potatoes during the winter. One imagines them existing on nuts and an occasional sweet from admiring visitors. But no! Mr. and Mrs. Monk enjoy a varied diet which consists of peanuts, brown bread, kumeras, carrots and thistles. Like children they roll the hot potatoes in their hands or toss them in the air until they are cool enough to eat. f The kiwi is a dainty eater. He pre-

fers meat, but it must be cut into thin strips which resemble worms as nearly as possible. As he (or they, for there are three kiwis at the zoo), has (or have!) a large piece of ground and a pool to roam in, the kiwi is able to gather in quite a lot of natural food. Perhaps the most fastidious animal in the collection is the ant-eater. Not that he is fussy in his native state, but in captivity he must be treated very, very carefully. Half a tin of condensed milk mixed with a little warm water, and two beaten-up eggs constitute the first course, which is followed by 41b. or minced meat. AND BOILED EGGS, TOO!

Among the birds the finches need to be careful with their diet. It isn’t that they are afraid of growing too fat.

Nature demands variety and variei they get. An ocasional piece <

sponge cake, an occasional boiled egg, fruit, gnound biscuit, minced meat and plenty of green food keep the finches in the pink of condition. That strange looking animal, the armadillo, is another careful eater. He comes from tropical South America, and consequently gets egg and milk, banana and apple and other appetising foods to remind him of his native land. The tuatara thrives on his snail once a week, the Tasmanian devil (nasty looking fellow!) is a confirmed meateater, the hippopotamus has hay iu the morning, potatoes, and sometimes chaff, in the afternoon, with plenty of green food for his health’s sake. Seven pounds of fish a day and the seals are happy and healthy. To watch them eat is one of the most amusing sights of an afternoon at the zoo. The Polar bears vary their diet. They get seven pounds of fish three days a week, and meat on every other day except their fast day. The brown bears are given meat only occasionally; otherwise their food consists of brown bread and vegetables, Including plenty of cabbage, and the odds and ends which admiring children love to throw to them. THE LUCKY TOUCAN

Probably the toucan fares best of all for food. He has a choice of banana, boiled rice, boiled potato, ground biscuit and currants, but then he is a rare fellow and needs careful attention from the zoo authorities. Hawks and eagles and owls require meat. The parrots have millet, hemp and sunflower seeds, as well as green food. Pheasants require grain, ground biscuit, maize and crushed oats. The peacocks are not particular about their food, -which consists mostly of wheat. Lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars eat either horse or cow meat, all of which must be inspected by a veterinary surgeon before it is given to the animals The antelopes can choose between chaff, crushed oats, maize, moose nuts and green food, and are treated, now and then, to a dose of blood salts.

Naturally the animals require a large amount of food to keep them fit and well-nourished. The following list gives an approximate idea of the amount of food required to feed the animals for a month; Hay 2 ton Fish .. mm >• •• •• 500 lb. Chaff 2 ton Eg-gs 40 dozen Meat 24 carcases Maize 50 bushels Potatoes 10 bushels Milk 30 gallons Bananas 150 lb. 1 Cabbage 12 dozen Lettuce 24 dozen Carrots .. .. .. .. j 50 bundles —O.A.G.