Lunch at the Zoo: What Zoo Animals Eat and Why

by Joyce Altman, Rick Chrustowski (Illustrator)

A fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what zoo animals eat, and why.

How do you feed a hungry crocodile without becoming dinner yourself?
What do you feed a baby porcupine?
Do elephants need vitamin pills?

In the wild, animals can usually find the foods they need to eat. But zoo animals can't go out and search for their own meals. Instead, nutritionists must discover what foods each animal needs to stay healthy and happy. Whether serving lunch to poisonous snakes, making dinner for a thousand animals at once, or caring for babies who have lost their mothers, life for the zoo staff is never dull.

This fascinating and informative book looks behind the scenes at some of the largest zoos in the country to discover what--and how--they feed their animals.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

tHIS IS THE BOOK THAT GOT ME STUCK ON ANIMALS.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives the reader a general idea of how different animals are fed at zoos. The title makes you think you are going to go around with the zoo-keepers during a typical lunch time and feed each animals. Towards the end of the book, it reveals to your that some of not most animals are fed at night. You do get an idea of how different animals are fed.

[Shelleyburns]

Informational chapter book. Appropriate for grades 2 - 5. This good provides information on what animals eat at the zoo, how nutritionist decide what to feed the animals, what zoo kitchens are like, how zoo animals are feed, vitamins that are given to zoo animals, feeding baby animals and a sample of what zoo animals would in in the wild and what they eat at the zoo. This would be a good book to use in the upper elementary grades for a zoo animal research project.