Food Storage for Animals in the Zoo

A zoo's task is harder than any restaurant. The customers are far more varied in their diets, and a few require massive quantities of food each day. Every day, rain or shine, hot or cold, a zoo must feed hundreds of hungry creatures. There is never a slow down in business. In order to handle all the food that a zoo uses each day, zoos have developed certain methods of storing food.

  1. The Commissary

    • Zoos face a monumental duty each day. Each animal has specific dietary needs, and zoo nutritionists work to meet those needs. Some zoos, such as the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., hire whole staffs to order food and figure out diets. Once the food arrives at the zoo, it is transferred to a zoo commissary -- basically a massive kitchen -- for storage. The commissary includes shelves for dry storage and walk-in coolers and freezers, as well as areas for food preparation.

    Dry Storage

    • Like the pantry at your house, zoos have an area where they put away non-perishable foodstuffs. A large zoo may have whole rooms dedicated to dry storage. Canned meat for cats, dogs and primates is kept here. Other food is placed in large bins for easy scooping, like pellets, cereal, nuts and seeds. This is also where the zoo nutritionist keeps the vitamins. Because it is difficult to match some animals' exact diet in the wild (like flamingos), vitamin supplements are used to keep them strong and healthy.

    Refrigerator and Freezer

    • Dry storage works great for animals that eat seeds and pellets, but zoos can't store fresh meat for the carnivores, like lions and seals, without refrigeration. To store perishable items, zoos build large walk-in freezers and coolers. Here they store meat, poultry, fresh fish and produce (such as heads of lettuce and apples). This food spoils rapidly, so zoos must use it within a few days of delivery. To keep their supply fresh, zoos receive deliveries several times a week.

    Other Storage

    • The dietary needs of certain animals require special food storage. Some zoos built barns where hay is kept for elephants, hippos and other chewing animals, which can burn through thousands of pounds of hay a week. For pandas, some zoos opt to grow their own bamboo. Reptiles, amphibians, certain fish, invertebrates and several other creatures require live food. To accommodate, zoos purchase and raise meal worms, live fish, mice, rats and earthworms, often "gut loading" the live food special nutrients that get passed on to the zoo animal.