Melbourne Zoo stops giving fruit to its animals because it’s making them fat and rotting their teeth

Melbourne Zoo has stopped giving fruits to its animals because it is found to be making them fat and causing rotten teeth. 

Zookeepers found that fruits are being cultivated to become sweeter than they were before, making it unhealthy for animals to consume. 

As a result, monkeys in the zoo are no longer eating bananas and red pandas are being introduced to ‘panda pellets’ that are packed with vitamins and minerals.  

Melbourne Zoo (pictured) has stopped giving fruits to its animals because it is found to be making them fat and causing rotten teeth

The zoo has slowly replaced fruits with leafy vegetables in an effort to create a healthier diet for its animals.  

According to a report by the Australian Department of Health and Aging, humans still benefit from the healthy, natural sugars found in fruits despite its increased sugar content. 

But for animals, this high level of sugar content can prove to be detrimental to their health – especially if the animals tend to consume lots of fruit.  

Melbourne Zoo’s head veterinarian Dr Michael Lynch talked about the red panda as an example.

‘Fruit is a highly desired item because of its sugar content. So many animals, especially primates and red pandas, they will selectively eat the fruit but not other elements,’ Dr Lynch told the Sydney Morning Herald. 

Melbourne Zoo has started giving red pandas (pictured) pellets in order to ensure they receive important nutrients – along with just a bit of pear

The ‘panda pellets’ ensures that the pandas will receive important nutrients that they might not necessarily get sufficient amounts of in genetically modified fruits. 

‘The issue is the cultivated fruits have been genetically modified to be much higher in sugar content than their natural, ancestral fruits,’ Dr Lynch said.

‘It’s interesting. After doing a lot with nutrition here, I tend to eat less fruit’.