ANIMAL
OTANA WEIGHT
180 KG WEEKLY DIET 90kg vegetables and greens, 7kg pellets and 14 pieces of browse.
Feeding
FRENZY
From vegetarian gorillas to otters with a taste for rainbow trout, the animals at Melbourne Zoo are kept well-fed and happy. Here’s how. WORDS
Jo Davy
MEK KAPAH WEIGHT
3,360 KG WEEKLY DIET 31kg vegetables, 23kg starchy vegetables, 70kg greens, 17kg lucerne hay, 35kg oaten hay, 42kg teff, 21 branches, 25kg training treats, 8.5 lucerne hay cubes and 10kg bran mixture.
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f you think your grocery shopping list is getting out of hand, spare a thought for Melbourne Zoo’s Food Store Manager Colin Van Dyk. Each week, Melbourne Zoo’s 3,197 animals munch their way through about three tonnes of fruit and vegetables, 172 kilograms of meat, 40 hay bales, 6,000 mealworms and 150 yabbies — and it’s Colin’s responsibility to keep the five kitchens stocked. Every animal has a specific diet developed by the Zoo’s vet team to make sure their individual nutritional needs are met. Otana, the silverback Western Lowland Gorilla, chows down on about 90 kilograms of vegetables and greens per week, as well as pellets and leafy
