Evening star., 1934-12-12
zoo CULT|VATES
PESTS FOR FOODS
Meal Worms, Flies, Reaches
Are Raised to Tempt AMI
mails PaIateS.
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
A diet of meal worms might help
cure human ailments. At least. they
ought to be good for humans, for
they've restored many sickly animal
in the National Geological Park here
to health, says Ernest P. Walker,
assistant director.
He suggests dietitians might learn
q good deal about what's good for
humans by studying the diets that
have been found good for ZOO ami
mails. Although meal worms aren't
found on human menu cards, they
seem to contain something of con-
siderable value as nourishment, for
animals thrive on them.
Meal worms are the larvae OF a
beetle that sometimes infests meal
and -four. They don't look any more
repulsive than many other foods
which many humans eat with relish,
Walker says They're about the color
of Well-broWned toast, and several
gallons a week are fed to ZOO inmates.
Strange Foods on Menu.
Catering to fnicky animal. bird
and snake appetites is Walkers JOB
and on his ZOO menu are some OF the
strangest foods and combinations of
foods found anywhere. He uses more
than 100 kinds of food a year in
tempting the palates of more than
700 species of creatures which include
about $500 individuals in the ZOO
population.
The diets range all the way from
live cockroaches to fine cuts Of beef
and from specially prepared baby FOODS
to hay and cod liver oil.
One mans job at the National Zoo
Is lust raising flies, which are fed TO
reptiles, birds and some ANIMALS. Be-
cause flies have a tendency to hatch
out more readily at some seasons than
others. steady supply for the zoo
IS assured by keeping fly pupae in a
state of suspended animation" in
cold storage until it is desired to hatch
them out. The favorite food OF sea
eulls. it was found, is tie flies
attracted by their regular food
Chameleons won't eat anything but
flies. and they must be fat ones.
Unlike most housewives, the zoe
mana gemen. encourages CCckroacheS
to multiply, says Walker. for they are
liked by some kinds Of reptiles, and
a supply is swept up from the COCK
roach haunts whenever needed. The
zoo raises some vegetables and small
animals such as mice because 1t is
cheaper than buying them. The wax
moth worm, the bane OF beekeepers
is fed lavishly on old honey comb
ANIMALS
like it.
A we'll known baby food mixed
with honey in a small vial Is Wnal
the numming birds like best. Pen
gums like their fish best when thrown
into the water for them to eaten
Flamingoe5 like crab meat scrap
which they first carefully mix with
water with their feet, and then sucE
the mixture through their bea.,s. re-
moving the food in the process.
Feeding Not Forced.
1.-THE animal is always right" Is
the zoos feeding motto. If clOosy
beast rejects one morsel. another Is
tried until the right thing is diScov-
cred The early days of captivity are
hardest. A fnicky stork was finally
started eating by an offering Of ten
der breast of chicken. Sometimes ami
mails on a hunger strike can be made
to eat by making them snap at the
end of a stick on which food has
been placed. Forcible feeding is sell
dom practice.
If your little boy won't eat his
spinach. take him to see the iguanas
These looking lizards take to
spinach as boys take to ice cream
The worlds most unusual way oi
eating an egg IS that of small spe-
cies Of snake. This snake viii gorge
an egg far too large to be swa, a,loped
Once in its throat the egg IS pierced
by a bony protuberance. the con-
tents squeezed out and swallowed, and
the shell elected.