- I'm here at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park
finding out what it takes to feed over 3,000 animals
on a daily basis.
(rhythmic drumming)
- Animal nutrition and human nutrition,
is there much of a difference?
- I would say yes, because human nutrition is one species.
We tend to know a lot about humans, so then
what we do is, for zoo nutrition, we're looking about,
what's the nearest match?
A great example would be, actually,
we're looking at lots of bird diet prep here,
the closest match that we have for all of our birds
is a chicken.
- Makes sense.
I'm noticing the food being prepped here
is a little different, there's some mice over there.
- So, we've got a couple of different stations,
and for hygiene purposes, exactly as you would have
in a normal kitchen, food is prepped in different areas.
So, there is some meat, and there are some other items
that we'll get to, but we definitely have
a fruit and veg station over here, and then
some of the food will already have been chopped.
That's what we're working on here, is using some of that
and adding it to hornbill diets.
And that's what you're gonna see just here.
- And they're working
from recipe books, right? - Right.
- Is that per species, or specific animals within?
- It's a little bit of both.
Between the Safari Park and the Zoo,
we have close to 800 species, and that's pretty big.
- [Katie] And what's in here already?
- Some of the fruit salads.
This is a processed meat, it's almost like a sausage,
but it has extra nutrition in it to make it more balanced.
Then there's different pellets, they're balanced
for different species, and then we've got
a few little rodents in there.
In fact, the fruits and vegetables that we use
for feeding our animals come from exactly the same supplier
that we use for our guests. - Right.
- It's restaurant-grade
quality. - It's not a lower-grade food.
- No, and when you think about it, it makes sense.
Our animals are incredibly important to us.
Many of them are species that are very threatened.
So, it makes no sense to cut corners on the quality of the
food, because that could have consequences for their health.
(upbeat music)
Hi! - What is goin' on
over here? - This is Cassandra,
and she is helping make some of our mammal diets.
- Now, I'm making
some biscuits for the keepers.
These are gonna be helping them either with training
or with moving animals from exhibits so they can
clean exhibits. - Okay.
- These biscuits are really highly desirable,
so, it lures them away from where they need to be.
- So (sniffs), I think these,
I always like to sniff food (sniffs).
They're a candy equivalent, so that the animals will get
really motivated for them. - They're enticed by them.
- Exactly.
- What's next?
- Okay, so, you're ready to go out into the field
and see some of the animals we've been talking about?
- Yes. (laughs) - Okay, let's go.
I hope it's gonna stay dry for you.
But now, you're going out into the field with Jillian,
and you're gonna get to feed some of the animals
that you were making the diets for
this morning. - This is what I've been
waiting for. (laughs)
- Excellent, enjoy! - Thank you.
- We're gonna go put pellet in giraffe feeders,
and hay in hay feeders, and stuff like that, first.
The way we feed our giraffe is different
than the way we feed
every other animal in here.
Every other animal is a grazer out here,
they'll be eating off the ground, so low feeders make sense.
For our giraffe, we like to put food up high for them,
more natural, as they would be pulling leaves off of a tree
or something like that.
That's good.
These guys are getting what we call Wild Herb Plus,
it's a more special formulated pellet for the giraffe.
So, we feed it up in these high feeders to ensure that
the giraffe get it and not everybody else,
although the giraffe like other pellet, too.
(bag rustles)
- [Katie] Will they come over here as you're filling these?
- Yes, first thing in the morning, we usually get followed,
and usually they're eating it as we're
dumping it in the feeder. - Oh, my gosh!
- [Jillian] Good job, there you go,
here's your first customer. - Oh, my gosh!
- [Jillian] Here's Hih-bar-ee comin' over.
- [Katie] Oh, my god!
- [Jillian] There you go.
- (exhales) Oh, my god!
- Good boy.
- [Katie] How much do they eat a day?
- We feed five 50-pound bags of pellet,
and we'll usually go through about a whole bale of alfalfa,
is what we offer them.
As far as what each one eats-- - Right.
- It's kinda hard to say.
Oh yeah, and their slobber is very viscous,
I guess you would say. - It's okay. (laughs)
- And so, they would spend most of their day in the wild.
They would be eating off of acacia trees, and a lot of 'em
are thorny acacia, so having that real thick saliva
helps protect their tongue.
- How do you know if each specific animal
is getting the amount they need?
- Part of our day is definitely, we'll go around
and we'll throw food out in all these feeders,
and then we'll spend a lot of our day making observations.
Who's eating where, who's eating what, and if we see
a specific animal or a specific species, even,
that maybe isn't getting enough food,
or they're being pushed out by other animals,
then we will make every effort we can
to make sure that they get their proper amount.
- [Katie] What do the rhinos eat?
- The rhinos get the specialized pellet,
because we figured out that what was in that pellet
was slowing their reproduction.
It took science to figure it out, and it was
the phytoestrogens that was in the alfalfa,
and so what we did is, they broke it all down
and they looked at the gut of the rhino
and what was going on, and they were able to figure out
that these phytoestrogens that are high in alfalfa
were causing infertility in the southern white rhino.
We went a long span here at the park without having any
southern white rhino babies,
so we changed 'em over to this new diet,
and soon after, we ended up with kids on the ground.
- Wow. - It was pretty cool, so now
we are back to helping the southern white rhino population.
Pretty nice.
- [Katie] How are the different ways you're feeding them
in the enclosure, how does that compare to
how they'd be eating in the wild?
- [Jillian] We feed 'em in different areas,
to kinda entice them to move to different areas, also.
In the wild, they're not going to stay in exactly one spot
and eat, they'll be moving with their herd,
so it kinda gives them the opportunity to do the same thing.
They'll go from feeder to feeder
eating little bits and pieces here and there.
- [Katie] Spread throughout.
- [Jillian] Yeah, makin' everybody happy.
- [Katie] How many times a day do you do this?
- [Jillian] Typically, right now, we're doin' it
twice a day, a total of about seven bales of hay
goes throughout the exhibit.
- A day. - A day, and usually we feed
about 13 bags of pellet out there.
- Jillian, thank you so, so much.
This was an experience I will remember
for the rest of my life. (laughs)
Thank you for showing me a day in your life.
It was unbelievable.
Thanks for watching.
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