A zoological park is a unique door to the world of wild nature where one may watch how its inhabitants live, to see what they eat. We are going to visit a Zoo in Almaty just to witness this unique process.

Visitors may enter only at 9 am, but there is a lot of work to do before that. .

The predators of the Zoo eat 350 kg daily. Live food is very important for birds of prey and preying mammals. It includes rats, rabbits, guinea pigs etc.

Bengal tiger Sango eats 12 kg of meat daily but always refuses live food, that’s why rabbits calmly stroll about its enclosure for weeks.

This adult lion also eats at least 12 kg of meat daily, female lions eat 8 kg of meat, cubs – at least 3 kg. Apart from meat all the Felidae get milk, eggs, bone meal.

Carrying food for the animals

Each animal has its own character and its preferences in food. The Zoo employees try to find an individual approach to each animal, satisfy its taste.

Siberian tiger also has 12 kg of meat daily. Some fish oil and chicken meat are also added to its diet.

The cheetah is waiting for its meat

It must be swept here, old bones are to be removed, water is to be poured.

Cheetah eats 4 kg of meat daily.

This horse carries food for its neighbours in the morning.

Preparing porridge for bears

Black bear has 200 g of meat and 200 ml of milk daily. Also they get bone meal, bread, cereals, fruit, vegetables, berries and yeast.

Polar bear Alkor is an old resident in the Zoo. But it has more meat than his omnivorous brother – up to 4 kg and the same amount of fish. Bone meal, vegetables and berries are obligatory too.

Food for elephants and hippopotami.

Two young hippopotami have hay, oats, bran, bread, carrots, beet, onions, peas, cabbage and chalk.

And they look quite satisfied!

Ration for one elephant is as follows: hay – 30kg, oats – 3kg, bran – 4 kg, rye – 4,5 kg, white bread – 2 kg, carrots – 15 kg, beet – 20 kg, potatoes – 5 kg, cabbage – 3 kg, fruit – 2kg, sugar – 0,5 kg.

Two Indian elephants live here: a male Lao, a female Aru. Each big animal has a name here.

Aru prefers to start from bread, Lao – from hay.

Treating animals to carrots

Fallow deer eat hay, branches with browses, oats, bran, cereals, carrots, potatoes, beet.

Chalk is added to food for strengthening osseous structures of animals. Salt helps to keep the water-salt balance in an organism.

There are 14 animals in the porcupines’ enclosures, daily they eat 2,8 kg of bread, 300 g of oats, 700 g of peas, 140 g of sunflower seeds, 300 g of fruit; carrots, potatoes and beet – 1,5 kg each.

This is Tommy. When her mother died the employees of the Zoo decided to take care of it.

Now she is 1,5 years old. It is getting used to the enclosure. She must be treated as a baby: must be fed, played with, talked to…

Food for the exotarrium

Making salads and cutting fruits and vegetables for the animals.

Rats after disinfection. Gnawing animals are bred in the Zoo too, some of them are used as food for predators. About a thousand of rats are eaten by them monthly.

Size of “food” depends on an eater size.

Young snakes feel the smell of food and leave the shelter.

This is a red rat snake, it mostly eats mice and rats, but in wild nature conditions it may catch birds and bats as well.

Snakes also get minerals containing calcium. Such snakes are fed about once a week depending on their size.

Californian king albino snake is not venomous.  It eats gnawing animals, lizards, birds. An adult snake eats laboratory rodents weekly. It kills its victim by suffocation and swallows it.

Special food for each terrarium

Jerboas eat grains and stems of plants. They also like vegetables cut beforehand.

Banded mongoose is fed with little mammals and eggs. Sometimes it is treated to porridge with milk and cottage-cheese. It gets food daily, the diet always varies. Fruits and vegetables are included as well.

African berg tortoises eating salad. Once a week they also get eggs.

Meercat is an amusing animal from South Africa but it’s a real predator at the same time. It likes to eat eggs, insects. Also it won’t refuse raw or boiled meat, once a week it has a rat. The diet varies.

Kabaragoya living in wild nature eats various animals: reptiles, mammals, eggs, fish and carrion. In the Zoo it is fed once a week with gnawing animals, boiled chicken or turkey meat, boiled eggs, small fish. Vitamins are added.

Meet the Australian blue-tongue lizard. Such lizards are omnivorous. They mainly eat plants, but sometimes are also fed with newly-born rats and insects. Eggs, vegetables and fruits will be eaten with pleasure too.

This lizard is called water dragon. It eats three times a week: vegetables, fruits, crickets, cockroaches, newly-born rats, cottage-cheese, eggs.

Necessary microclimate is to kept in the reptile terrariums.

Terrapin is a predator. Its main food is mice and rats, but the Zoo employees do not forget to bring plant food too.

Cuban crocodile named Fidel comes closer for fresh fish.

It likes being in the sun after the winter season. Fidel is fed twice a week with fish and meat by turns.

Reticulate python is probably the longest snake in the world. The longest one is said to be 12,2 m long! It is fed with hoofed mammals, gnawing animals, various birds, reptiles and domestic animals – pigs, goats, dogs, chickens etc.

But there’s no such variety here in the Zoo, it only gets a rabbit weekly…

The salad is made for a large flightless bird. Papuans call it “a horned head”. This portion will be eaten by it for a day.

The biggest Australian bird – a cassowary.

Dead chickens for sparrow hawks.

Lammergeyers mainly eat carrion and bones.

Golden eagle

Egyptian vulture is the smallest griffon of Africa. Sometimes it can be seen on the territory of Kazakhstan. It is considered to be rare and is in danger of extinction. It eats carrion of all types.

Elderly female steppe eagle named Stesha. It likes meat and does not refuse rats.

Sea eagle gets a dead rat for lunch. In general it eats fish and meat.

Steppe eagles must eat 500 g of meat daily.

Andean condor is considered to be the largest flying bird of the Western Hemisphere. These birds are quite aggressive. They prefer carrion, do not refuse rabbits, rats, chickens…

Turkey-buzzard is not afraid of men cause it was grown in an incubator. Eats fish and meat, carrion.

Kitchen. ll products are of high quality.

About 150 million tenge (more than 1 million dollars) is spent for the animals food annually.

Do not cross the barrier, dangerous!

Big preying birds and animals have one day a week with no food to let their stomachs purify.

Location: Almaty, Kazakhstan

via voxpopuli