Monkeys have been banned from eating bananas by a British zoo because food grown for people is too sweet and sugary for them, officials said Monday.
“Giving this fruit to animals is equivalent to giving them cake and chocolate,” said Dr. Amy Plowman, the head of Conservation and Advocacy at Paignton Zoo in the south west of England.
“People usually try to improve their diet by eating more fruit, but fruit cultivated for humans is much higher in sugar and much lower in protein and fibre than most wild fruit because we like our fruit to be so sweet and juicy,” she added.
This high sugar content is bad for their teeth and can lead to conditions like diabetes as well as gastrointestinal problems as their stomachs are mostly adapted to eating fibrous foods with very low digestibility, she said.
As a result the Zoo began to slowly wean the simian population off the sugary treats last year, slowly reducing the amounts so they could get accustomed to their new diet that now features lots of vegetables
However, animals do still get banana if they are unwell and the keepers need to make sure they take medication.
“Putting it in a piece of banana works really well, as it’s such a treat now,” said Dr. Plowman.
Changing the diet has brought about improvements in both the animals’ physical health and behavior according to the zoo’s Senior Head Keeper of Mammals, Matthew Webb.
“We have noticed an improvement in the condition of primate coats, in particular the color and thickness of the fur of the Sulawesi crested black macaques,” he said.
“Smaller monkeys such as tamarins and marmosets are highly strung animals and live in tight-knit social groups which can be quite aggressive at times,” he added. “Reducing the sugar in their diets has calmed them down and made their groups more settled.”