Zoo Gorillas Go Heart-Healthy with New Diet

02/23/2011

Gorillas at some U.S. zoos are going on a diet. Just like humans, many are dying of heart disease, so researchers in Cleveland are putting primates on a more heart-healthy diet, similar to what they’d eat in the wild.

Read more at ScienceDaily.

Veterinary cardiologist Steven Rosenthal performs a routine cardiac exam on Kigali, National Zoo's 15-year-old female western lowland gorilla, in Washington.

Heart disease is the number one killer of Western lowland gorillas in North American zoos and after a 21-year-old gorilla named Brooks died of heart failure at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in 2005, researchers there started to take a closer look at gorilla heart health.

Instead of the high-sugar and high-starch food that zoos have fed gorillas for years, the Cleveland zoo now serves wheelbarrows full of romaine lettuce, dandelion greens, endive, alfalfa and bananas stuffed with multivitamins. The new diet is also being tested at zoos in Columbus, Toronto and Seattle.

Photo Credits: Jupiterimages/Thinkstock | REUTERS/Mehgan Murphy/National Zoological Park/Handout | Tamas Kovacs/epa/Corbis |

Comments

[A.F. for Animal Planet]

I'm surprised that zoos weren't giving the gorillas food similar to what they found in their native habitats in the first place. From where I'm sitting, that just seems like common sense to me.

At any rate, I am glad that zoos are making the change. The health of the gorillas I'm sure will benefit.

[Chloe N]

This was kind of shocking to me -- I always assumed that the animals were being fed a natural diet. High sugar and high starch? They're animals, not people!

As a soon-to-be Zoology student, this makes me want to examine other places and compare animal diets. I wonder just how many wildlife preserves/zoos/sanctuaries actually follow the same old diets these gorillas were on.

[Annie]

I had the same assumptions as you Chloe! And mine were reinforced by my attendance of Adventure Camp at Busch Gardens where their animals are all feed a very natural diet of all fresh meats and produce. I simply assumed that all modern, upstanding zoos fed their animals this way these days. As a student of a captive wildlife care and education program I'm very surprised to learn this.

Animals eating high sugar and starch!? That's not even remotely healthy for HUMANS, let alone animals!

[I LoVeE AnImAlS!!! >3]

PoOr GoRiLlAs!!!! >3 SaVe ThE AnImAlS!!!

[I LoVeE AnImAlS!!! >3]

HeRe In SeDwIcK CoUnTy ThEy ThRow ThE FoOd At ThE GoRIlLaS ........ BuT Im StilL ShoCkeD ....

[carol rich]

THEY THROW THE FOOD AT THE GORILLAS!! HOW SAD!! YES...I TOO THOUGHT THEY FED THE ANIMALS IN ZOOS THE FOOD THEY WOULD EAT IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT!! GO FIGURE!!

[darlingsapphire]

I hope you do not throw their food
to them - it is not a nice action
to do. I hope you give the gorillas
plenty privacy away from staring
visitors. I hope you give them soft
ground to knuckle-walk on so their
skin will not callous and joint
pain later in life.I hope you give
them a separate room with small hole
for the excrement and urine to run
down so keepers can clean readily.
Gorillas in wild do not want to be
near their business nor do humans
do them.Zoos give a bad impression
of simians and others that they
like to be in dirty places-not true.
Larger space for all animals,after
all their are confined so make them
happier,please.

[Dijeta]

Very interesting article. I didn't know that gorillas are going on a diet. For me is interesting that herbivores have heart problems.

[Tony Federico]

While it does seem like common sense (as a previous commenter noted) it actually isn't surprising. We feed school children the same sort of diet as we do zoo animals, is it any wonder that type 2 diabetes is no longer called "adult-onset"? Feeding a gorilla a diet that is similar to that which it would eat in its natural habitat is a no-brainer as is feeding humans in a similar way. Fortunately, there is a community of "Paleo" dieters, experts, and bloggers who are out there promoting this very idea.