Nutrition
A healthy body starts with a healthy
diet. Working in concert with keepers
and veterinary staff and guided by
the latest in nutritional research,
our commissary serves up more than
45,000
Step into the Kitchen
Not unlike a high-end restaurant kitchen, the commissary
is equipped with a walk-in freezer and refrigerator
housing every variety of fruit, vegetable and meat product
imaginable. It’s all human-grade, freighted directly from
the source, and generally fresher than the offerings at
your local supermarket. In an adjacent room, bags of
specialized grain are piled from floor to ceiling, while
the resident cricket colony offers pleasant chirps.
Working from Dawn to Dusk
A certified dietary manager, three diet specialists and a
small army of volunteers begin their day at 5:30 a.m. with
a chorus of sorting, straining, slicing and sweeping. They
need to be ready for the keepers to collect their first diets
of the morning, each precisely packaged and portioned.
Food preparation continues well into the evening,
long after the last Zoo guests have departed, and
starts once again early the following morning.
3
About 200 jumbo
sweet potatoes
a week
Up to 300 heads
of romaine on a
busy week