Preparing a Thanksgiving Feast for the Beasts at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo

If preparing a big turkey dinner for all your relatives this Thanksgiving has you feeling a little overwhelmed, just imagine how the animal keepers at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo must feel. They’ll be preparing Thanksgiving feasts for the Zoo’s nearly 3,000 animals – and, yes, there are plenty of picky eaters in the bunch.

To celebrate the holiday, everyone receives free admission to the Zoo and The RainForest on Thanksgiving Day, and special animal feedings will be held throughout the day. To tide you over until then, here are some highlights from the daily menu for the animals at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo:

• 20 pounds of horsemeat are served to the Zoo’s three tigers each week.
• The Zoo’s female sun bear “Scruffy” eats a cup and a half of Uncle Ben’s Whole-Grain Brown Rice every day.
• 15,600 pounds of eucalyptus are served to the Zoo’s three koalas each year. (300 pounds are shipped in weekly from Arizona and Florida.)
• The Zoo’s four harbor seals and California sea lion eat about 50 pounds of fish a day, including herring, mackerel and sardines.
• Male gorillas Bebac and Mokolo get 8 heads of lettuce daily. (They also receive 60 high-fiber biscuits that are specially baked for them at the Zoo commissary.)
• The giant Pacific octopus eats 2 to 3 crabs or shrimp every other day.
• 70 pounds of produce including apples, bananas, carrots and yams are served to the Zoo’s four rhinos each week.
• The eight white-backed vultures share 4 rabbits per week.
• 2 bales of hay are shared by seven female giraffes every day.
• Seven Colobus monkeys share 7 heads of lettuce per day and about 5 pounds of fruits and vegetables.

The above items and quantities represent only a portion of the animals’ diets, which are carefully planned by the Zoo’s veterinarians, keepers and curators.