We are committed to giving all of our residents the best nutrition and the healthiest lifestyle possible. We spare no expense to provide organic produce, essential vitamins and supplements, nutrient-rich chow biscuits and other essential dietary requirements for the primates in our care. Each primate eats 3 balanced meals per day and we have many residents who require special diets due to medical conditions such as diabetes, IBS, obesity and food allergies. Our Primate Health & Wellness Program encompasses all of these nutritional and dietary components of caring for the primates. From exotic and organic produce, to natural wellness supplements, maintaining the health and wellness of nearly 50 primates is quite a task!
Caregiver Tori preparing diets
Each day, the primates enjoy eating organic fruits, vegetables and leafy greens. In a single day, our devoted caregivers, interns and volunteers sort and prepare over 100 pounds of fresh food!
Martina snacking on a fresh banana
Maintaining balanced and healthy diets for the apes and monkeys is essential to their survival. Primates require very specific nutrition and an improper diet can lead to severe medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and infection. The amount of sugar found in the fruit at the grocery store is much higher than the sugar found in wild-grown fruit. As such, our program limits the amount of fruit in their diet with more vegetables given, as their sugar levels better resemble the amount of sugar in wild-grown produce.
Opal
Having just been rescued in the summer of 2018, Opal is our newest resident. When she first arrived, Opal was extremely overweight. We were astonished when our veterinarian determined that she did not yet have diabetes, as most primates in her weight class are prone to insulin deficiency. Wanting to ensure that this sweet girl got healthier, we immediately corrected her diet and designed her enclosure to encourage activity and exercise. Opal’s health and wellness have improved immensely in the past year. Her loose skin is a testament to all of the weight she’s lost thanks to her newly regimented diet!
Opposite of Opal, we have also designed diets for newly rescued individuals who are extremely underweight, like Andi.
Andi
When Andi was first rescued, he was extremely thin and malnourished (left). Providing him with a well balanced, calorie rich diet and plenty of nutritional chow biscuits quickly helped Andi gain the weight he needed (right).
Unless you’ve worked with primates before, you may be wondering what these chow ‘biscuits’ are.
In the wild, primates naturally obtain essential vitamins and nutrients by eating the readily available foliage, fruits, insects and gums found in their environment. At the Primate Rescue Center, it is our job to ensure that the apes and monkeys consume a proportional amount of vitamins to what they would get from eating wild organisms. Along with a wonderful variety of organic and exotic fruits, vegetables and leafy greens, we are fortunate that the apes and monkeys really enjoy snacking on nutritional chow biscuits. These crunchy biscuits are specifically formulated to meet all of the dietary needs of primates and are jam-packed with vitamins and nutrients. They are also a great resource when we rescue extremely malnourished primates because they quickly help our new friends gain weight.
We are committed to giving all of our residents the best nutrition and the healthiest lifestyle possible and we spare no expense to provide organic produce, essential vitamins and supplements, nutrient-rich chow biscuits and other essential dietary requirements for the primates in our care. Our Primate Health & Wellness Program is so essential to the daily care of the apes and monkeys and it would not be possible without the support and generosity of our members.