Wildlife Feeding and Nutrition

Wildlife Feeding and Nutrition is an indispensable reference for the staff and researchers in the Department of Nutrition at the National Zoological Park.  It analyzes the animals' needs for everything from macronutrients to vitamin and minerals, their gastrointestinal anatomy and function, digestion and nutrient metabolism, food intake and regulation, and much more.  The Department of Nutrition serves one of the most important roles for the Zoo:  the nutrition and feeding of the animals in the Zoo’s collection.  Not only does this department feed a very wide variety of species in the collection, from tiny insects to huge elephants, but they also have to address a wide range of nutritional needs at the different stages of the animals’ life cycles, including hand-rearing orphaned young.