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Melbourne Zoo in Australia says fruit has too much sugar

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T O P I C R E V I E W
Eric C Posted - Sep 30 2018 : 11:28:03 AM Melbourne Zoo in Australia says fruit has too much sugar and is making their animals fat. They plan to wean the animals from eating fruit. The issue is that fruit has been cultivated to have more sugar so that it is more appealing to humans. Here is a link to the full article: https://www.theage.com.au/national/zoo-won-t-panda-to-taste-says-fruit-s-too-sweet-for-its-monkey-menu-20180928-p506lb.html
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sjusovare Posted - Oct 02 2018 : 12:20:27 PM I think it's actually both the diet fed (which is not necessarily balanced for each species) and its quantity compared to the activity level. It is also interresting to note that in fact we do not know that much about animal nutrition, most of diets used are decades old recipes established by trial and error, but not necessarily ideal either (just see for example how much the leadbeater's possum diet has been modified in 25 years because of the problems which were arising in animals) When you compare different zoos; you also notice that old zoos with old routine established technics are usually more prone to issues such as obesity and stereotypical behavior than recent zoos which are more conceived from the start to mimic the animals natural habitat.
PharSytid Posted - Oct 01 2018 : 05:24:41 PM Sjusovare EXCELLENT point- and one that didn't dawn on me. What you say makes a lot of sense; tends to make one wonder what the real problem is. And I find it surprising that the zoo doctors haven't considered lack of activity to be a culprit contributing to obesity of their animals- or have they?
sjusovare Posted - Oct 01 2018 : 01:11:33 PM It's actually way more complicated than the article claims, it mistakes correlation for causality, and is self justifying with a pseudoscientific claim. Pseudoscientific claim : sugar content of fruits has increased due to selective breeding GENERALLY FALSE: The majority of fruits (aside from apple, apricot and peach) have not seen their sugar content increase in cultivation, but rather their size; in fact most modern cultivars have a lower sugar content (and flavour!) than their wild counterpart. Which leads to mistaking correlation for causality : animals becomes fat because of fruits YES AND NO : It's rather the fact that zoo animals eat too much sugar in comparison with their activity level, in other words, zoo animals are bored, so they eat and do not spend energy, hence they get fat, exactly like a kid sitting in front of TV all day with food, it's not the fruits the problem, it's the way of life, but it's easier to claim that the fruits are the cause of the issue rather than admitting that it's a direct consequence of the conditions of life in zoos (which have to be improved).
PharSytid Posted - Sep 30 2018 : 12:37:26 PM Wow. Only HUMANS have the ability to throw off the balance of tried and true NATURAL necessities of life. Captive animals are, in a sense, already deprived of what they need due to their environment being altered; maybe it's time to cultivate our own food sources? This will prove to be very challenging, but looking forward, it seems everything will end up more problematic; advancement has consequences, short and long term .

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