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Feed Microscopy Newsletter November 2006

St. Louis Zoo Tour
Evan Balaskas

The Feed Microscopy Division arranged for an insider's tour of the St. Louis Zoo for the morning of the final day the annual meeting. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Dr. Ellen Dierenfeld, who leads the Nutrition Department of the Animal Food & Nutrition Center at the zoo. The tour began with a visit to the Nutrition Center. Staff was busy preparing meals for all the animals at the zoo, and we were shown that only food grade ingredients were used to prepare their meals.

The Center was a little small for a zoo of this size, and the freezer has room for only a month's supply of perishable food, so a new center, named the Orthwein Animal Nutrition Center will be constructed to replace the old facilities. Construction of the new building began on July 16th of this year, designed in full compliance with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, and has many unique features including visual access to all stages of food preparation and the dietary research work performed in the lab for all visitors to the zoo.

The tour continued on to the veterinary hospital, followed by a PowerPoint presentation of the feeding requirements of the zoo animals. It was explained to us that some animal species often have unanticipated nutritional requirements. An example of this is one particular species of hummingbird that was doing poorly on a 20% fat diet, until it was discovered that the nectar they normally feed on has only a 1% fat content! In addition, some dietary requirements may be seasonal, such as animals that fast for several months in the wild during the dry season. These animals do not fast at the zoo, due to humane and legal requirements, even though it may be appropriate for them in the wild.

After the tour, we were invited to visit the animals at the zoo, but due to a sudden heavy rainfall, a volunteer from our group with an umbrella arranged to bring our transportation to the door, and sadly, we returned to the America's Center for the remainder of the conference without seeing the animals.

The St. Louis Zoo has a web site with extensive additional information for anyone who would like to know more about the zoo. It can be accessed at http://www.stlzoo.org/. I highly recommend the site.

AOCS, 2710 S. Boulder, Urbana, IL 61802-6996 USA

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