Is there a good reason to chop up primate fruit and vegetables?

[zooman]

At every zoo where u can observe the primate keepers preparing food they can always be seen chopping up the fruit and vegetables into bite size pieces!

Is there a good reason for this? I would have thought it would be an excellent opportunity for enrichment to provide whole fruit and veg.

Is this a case of,
"this is the way we have always one it"
"Cost effective"
"Easier to manage cleaning ect"?

 

[FBBird]

Is there a good reason.....

Chopping the food small results in less quarrelling in mixed enclosures, and more chance of individuals eating a balanced mix.

 

[lamna]

When you have more than one animal, you run the risk of one animal taking all the food if it isn't chopped up.

Plus if you chop it into smaller pieces its going to take the animals a lot longer to find and eat everything.

 

[zooman]

Thanks for both of your very valid responses.

Not convinced it is always required.

 

[Pertinax]

As mentioned above, I'd say its fairly essential in group situations so that all individuals can get their fare share. If fed whole, the most dominant animals sometimes just pick out the most favoured items by the hand or armful and carry them away to eat at their leisure. Chopping up prevents or lessens that sort of situation. Perhaps less important when animals are fed individually in their bedroom areas. I've also often seen whole vegetables and fruits fed to Apes during daytime feeds when they are scattered widely or thrown specifically within reach of individuals, so all in a group can get some. I particularly enjoy seeing Gorillas catch tomatoes.

 

[Brum]

I also think that size may play an important factor in some primate species, could you imagine a tamarin or marmoset trying to make off with an apple or orange?

On a serious note though, I agree with the other comments regarding dominant animals getting more than their fair share. I suppose it makes scatter feeds far easier as well, adding extra enrichment to feeds. (And you should be all up for extra enrichment zooman! )

 

[JBZvolunteer]

It also depends on the type of plants an animal naturally eats as to why they are cut up. For example, baboons are grazers so you cut up the lettuce and other greens into pieces that are comparable in size to grass, whereas a colobus monkey, a leafeater, recieve lettuce/greens that are comparitable in size to that of the medium size tree leafs.