Whalemeat And Onions On Zoo Animals’ Menu

Press, Volume C, Issue 29557, 5 July 1961, Page 11

Whalemeat And Onions On Zoo Animals’ Menu

(Special Correspondent N.Z.PA.)

WELLINGTON, July 4. Morsels for gourmets and items for epicures are included in the wide variety of fare which is produced for the many animals at the Wellington zoo at feeding times. From five tons of whalemeat to 601 b cans of bluegum honey, the foodstuffs consumed at the zoo vary in origin and size as much as do their eaters. Staple diet for the lions, tigers, and leopards is meat. Beef, horsemeat, and whalemeat are provided to give variety. “We have been stepping up their intake of whalemeat as they become accustomed to it," said the director (Mr C. J. Cutler). Whalemeat, varied with horsemeat and beef, provided a diet rich in proteins and oils which helped to give the big meat-eating animals a balanced diet. Meat went a long way towards satisfying the zoo’s wolves, dingoes, eagles, vultures, pelicans, and occasionally pheasants, said Mr Cutler. The whalemeat was frozen by Perano Brothers at Tory channel, and brought to the zoo in large lots each whaling season. Mutton was also eaten in small quantities, mutton fat being a delicacy prized by the keas. Some birds and animals also favoured fish, some of the birds, such as skuas, being largely fish eaters. while pelicans and bears liked fish as a variety. “Pork is a dainty they get now and again through the zoo’s breeding the odd wild pig we get.” said Mr Cutler. “We also breed a little poultry. as the leopards fancy a fowl now and again, as they do in the wild. The Mexican cocomistle, which looks like a stubby-legged cat. also fancies bird occasionally." For the active vegetable eating animals, such as monkeys, local fruit and vegetables were enlivened with such things as guavas, pawpaw, mangoes, pineapple, blueberries and golden berries. Buckwheat, a cereal gram forbidden for general import into New Zealand because it was related to the convulvulus family, was a mainstay with some of the more dfflcult birds, said Mr Cutler. “Unpolished rice is also a

favourite with the birds. However. some of our songsters prefer paddy rice, which is the complete grain, with its entire husk. Though we are permitted to import paddy rice we are unable to find a country willing to export it.” A rare grain was poppy seed, known as blue maw in the seed shops and identical with the poppy seed used to ornament cakes and some loaves. This formed an occasional addition to bird diet. An indication of how the average zoo animal fares in the winter is given by a day’s menu for the monkeys. “They are active animals with a high metabolic rate." said Mr Cutler. “We feed them three times a day. as they need freouent meals. “For breakfast they get warm bread and milk and glucose. Next come apples and bananas, with carrots or turnips or other root crops. Every third day they get boiled onions, with boiled potatoes on the other days. They get a green feed in the afternoons, cabbage, lettuce, silver beet, and wheat or unpolished rice.” At the other end of the metabolic scale was the tuatara. said Mr Cutler. This sluggard lived on snails, worms, and woodlice, which were all provided by various means at the zoo. “We have a wormery. and catch woodlice by spreading sacks or laying boards on the ground,” said Mr Cutler "The snails we get from banks of nasturtiums. Tuataras prefer live food. Tea and Honey Among the unusual items used by the zoo on occasions are tea and honev. South African veldt animals used to grazing the high-tannin-con-taining twigs and leaves of native scrub were occasionally fed dry tea. said Mr Cutler. Other South African animals got it as a drink. "Honey is for the bears, a few birds, and the occasional monkey,” said Mr Cutler. “The sun bear loves it on the comb and spends hours sucking and then eating the wax. “The bluegum honey we imported from Australia some years ago for an Australian animal which lived in bluegum trees in its native state. When the animal died some time ago we had 581 b left in a can, as this was the only way in which we could buy it. “We tried for months to dispose of this honey, as it was like nothing I have ever tasted. I sold it to a baker, but he sent it back. Now we are considering another of the particular type of animal that eats it.”