Asian Elephant, heaviest eater at Seoul Grand Park Zoo

More than 3,600 animals of 310 species live at the Seoul Grand Park Zoo in Gwacheon City, Gyeonggi Province. They eat 3.4 tons on average per day, or a total of 1,214 tons per year. The money the zoo spent to purchase feeds for animals at the zoo exceeds 2.07 billion won (1.8 million U.S. dollars), or more than 40 percent of its income from admission tickets, last year.

Different animals eat all different kinds of feeds. The zoo prepares fresh feeds, including 800 kilograms of fruits and vegetables, 400 kilograms of chicken meat, and 100 kilograms of beef. It also brings in assorted feeds (5 tons) and grains (1 tons) every 10 days, and hay (100 tons) every three months.

Then, which animal is the heaviest eater at the zoo? According to the Seoul Grand Park Zoo on Wednesday, the heaviest eater is the Asian Elephant that eats up 102.3 kilograms on average daily. It eats 75 kilograms of hay, 24.7 kilograms of fruits and vegetables, and 2.6 kilograms of assorted feeds, which translates into 74,700 won (64 dollars) for the feeds alone per day, or 27.26 million won (23,500 dollars) per year. Since the animal eats a lot, it also produces as much as 150 kilograms of excretion daily.

In terms of feed consumption, the Asian Elephant is trailed by the White Rhino that consumes 27 kg daily, giraffe (19.6 kg), hippo (18.5 kg), Grant’s Zebra (12.7 kg), and Asian Wild Horse (11.1 kg). The Roland Gorilla eats 8.9 kilograms a day, but its feed costs 33,600 won (29 dollars), the second highest after that of the Asian Elephant. The Roland Gorilla mostly eats vegetables such as salary and lettuce, and often enjoys herb tea as dessert.

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