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Summary of Transcript:
The Denver Zoo spends nearly one million dollars a year on food to feed their 3,000 animals who require individualized diets based on their age and health. The nutrition team, led by Nutrition Director Jason Williams, uses a computer program to create diets tailored to each animal’s needs. Nutrition Center Manager Kristen Crowell oversees a team of four nutrition specialists who start work at 6am, pulling orders before the animals are awake. The team delivers the food before the zoo opens its gates, and then spends the day working with keepers and vets to make sure the diets are working for the animals. The goal is to make the animals’ lives better, and this investment in a nutrition team is just one way the Denver Zoo puts the animals first.
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Summary of Description:
The article discusses the challenges of feeding 3,000 wild animals representing over 400 species in the Nutrition Center. The Nutrition Department plays a crucial role in working closely with animal care and animal health teams to create specialized diets to meet the unique needs of each animal. The article celebrates March as National Nutrition Month and highlights the hard work of the Nutrition Department in ensuring the animals remain healthy and thriving. A video is also included to showcase the Nutrition Center and the efforts put into feeding the animal family.
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Feeding 3,000 Wild Animals: Behind the Scenes at the Nutrition Center
Maintaining the health of thousands of wild animals requires a highly specialized team of individuals dedicated to ensuring that each animal receives the necessary nutrients to thrive. The Nutrition Center at the San Diego Zoo is one such team, responsible for developing and implementing specialized diets that cater to each animal’s specific needs. In celebration of National Nutrition Month, let’s take a closer look at what goes into feeding a family of 3,000 wild animals.
A Team Effort: The Role of the Nutrition Department
The Nutrition Department plays a critical role in providing quality care for the animals at the San Diego Zoo. Their primary focus is to ensure that each animal receives a diet that meets their nutritional requirements, promotes wellbeing and supports their unique physiological and behavioural needs.
The key to their success lies in the close collaboration between the animal care and animal health teams. By working together, they gain a deep understanding of each animal’s unique metabolic and nutritional needs, allowing them to develop a specialized diet that caters to the individual requirements of each animal.
Customizing Diets for 400+ Species
The San Diego Zoo is home to over 400 species of wild animals, each with their own distinct diet requirements. Understanding these unique needs is essential in ensuring each animal receives the necessary nutrients to maintain their overall health.
The Nutrition Department is responsible for creating and supplying over 200 types of specialized diets for a wide range of animal species, from small birds to massive elephants. The department works closely with the animal care team to provide a varied diet that not only caters to each species’ unique needs but also promotes positive behavioural traits like foraging.
Prioritizing Enrichment and Behavioral Needs
Ensuring that the animals at the San Diego Zoo receive a diverse and appropriate diet is a crucial aspect of the Nutrition Department’s work. In addition to providing adequate nutrition, they also prioritize behavioural enrichment through food.
Providing a foraging experience for animals that are naturally prey animals and naturally forage in the wild is an example of how the Nutrition Department promotes positive behaviours. By hiding food in objects, burying it, or making it difficult to obtain, they encourage animals to engage in natural foraging behaviours that promote mental and physical well-being.
Balancing Nutrition and Sustainability
Feeding thousands of animals can have a significant impact on the environment, and the Nutrition Department is aware of this challenge. In response, they have prioritised developing sustainable diets that not only meet the nutritional requirements of each species but at the same time reduce waste and resource usage.
Their efforts are centred around developing diets that include locally sourced ingredients and are packed with high-quality nutrients that maximise the nutritional value of each meal. By incorporating sustainable practices into the creation of animal diets, the Nutrition Department ensures that their impact on the environment is minimal.
Final Thoughts
The Nutrition Department at the San Diego Zoo plays an integral role in ensuring the overall wellbeing of thousands of animals. Their dedication to creating specialized diets that address species-specific nutritional, behavioural, and enrichment needs is an essential aspect of the Zoo’s work.
By working closely with the animal care and animal health teams, the Nutrition Department provides each animal with the necessary care that is essential to their overall health and wellbeing. With their focus on sustainability and promoting natural behaviours, the Nutrition Department at the San Diego Zoo is an excellent example of how zoos can positively impact the lives of wild animals.
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See Original Source
Source Description
As anyone who’s tried to feed a human family knows, it can be a challenge to keep even three or four members of the same genus happy. Now imagine that your “family” is 3,000 wild animals representing 400+ species—and you’ve got just an inkling of what it’s like to work in our Nutrition Center! Because March is National Nutrition Month, we wanted to celebrate our Nutrition Department, a team that plays a huge role in ensuring all our animals receive the food they need to remain healthy and thriving. These hardworking individuals work closely with our animal care and animal health teams to create specialized diets that meet all our animals’ unique nutrient, wellness, enrichment and behavioral needs. Check out the video to learn more about our Nutrition Center and what it takes to feed an animal family of 3,000. ???
