From Appetizers to Entrees: Feeding the Animal Stars

The following article was published in the June 2, 2008 issue
of Magically Speaking ISSN: 1556-3863

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- OK, so what do you feed a 400-pound gorilla?

"Anything he wants," goes the joke. But it's more complicated than that at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park where expert feeders trained in animal nutrition treat gorillas and gazelles and lions and lizards and all the other animals of Walt Disney World Resort's newest theme park like royalty.

"Feeding animals is a science," says Animal Nutritionist Dr. Eduardo Valdes. "Diet is an important part of their daily care."

To keep the park's more than 1,000 animals happy takes about three tons of food a day in addition to the natural vegetation many eat. Mealtimes can be real challenges. Just like people, animals follow different diets. Some are finicky eaters, too.

On the menu: everything from the tiniest insects for anteaters to meaty entrees for the big cats to pelleted feeds, veggies, fruits, hay and leafy tree branches -- called "browse" -- for rhinos and other herbivores.

"Home" for many animals is Kilimanjaro Safaris, a 110-acre savannah recreating the landscape of Africa in remarkable detail. Disney's Animal Kingdom guests board safari vehicles for the guided, winding journey past herds of wide-roaming animals.

Here animals run, play, lounge and certainly eat.

What makes this habitat so unique is the lush plant life. A challenge for the animal and horticulture staffs is keeping the antelope, giraffes and elephants from devouring their home. So, 3,500 pounds of browse are strategically placed to provide the animals with a tasty distraction from the vegetation in full view of guests. Disney's Animal Kingdom's Horticulture Department grows and delivers the browse to the Forage Warehouse to ensure the quality and to chemically free the browse.

An elephant, with its voracious appetite, gulps down 250 pounds of food a day consisting of hay, fresh grass and a pelleted energy-based supplement. Because it's natural for many animals to forage at random, crews vary the time and place of feedings.

Birds eat across the entire food spectrum. Some species prefer meat and fish, others insects, and many fruits and nuts.

Carnivores including lions, cheetahs, crocodiles, vultures, storks and snakes are given a nutrient-fortified meat diet, fish, rodents and insects. Only insects are fed alive with all other whole prey purchased frozen.

It is very difficult to recreate the diet the animal world would be eating in the wild. For instance, anteaters, who really eat mostly termites in their natural habitat, Brazil, receive a mixture of ground dry cat food and high-fiber biscuit which is offered in a tube feeder. The nutritional composition of this diet closely compares to that of a termite. They also receive crickets and mealworms, which they love, but are lacking in many essential nutrients!

The Animal Nutrition Center is the nerve center where food is received, prepared, weighed, portioned and checked against quality control standards, many of which Disney uses for its restaurants. The animals are fed the same quality produce that Disney guests get at their grocery stores.

Nutritional diversity is an important part of the feeding process. Just as people don't want meat loaf every night, animals don't care to be bored at feeding time. At Disney's Animal Kingdom, five percent of the animals' diet is varied daily to provide enrichment under the direction of Dr. Valdes. Enrichment food items encourage and motivate the animals to explore their habitats. Flavor extracts, herbs, salad dressings, sugar-free jellies used as smears, cereals and pasta are spread in their bedding to encourage foraging behaviors, and special foods are put in puzzle feeders to make the animals work to consume the food.

And what of those gorillas?

Gorillas dine on a fiber-rich biscuit, which also contains proteins, vitamins and minerals. A mixture of vegetables and fruits rounds out their basic diet. What really makes them salivate are foods like banana leaves, yogurt, melons, pineapple, grapes, dried apricots and peanuts.

Which is great if you're a gorilla. Instant indigestion if you're not.