Animal Diaries Archive

Omnivores!

28 April 2006

Pigs are omnivores... that is to say, their diet isn't restricted to either animal (carnivore) or plant matter (herbivore), but rather they'll eat just about anything that will come their way (just like us humans). Pigs in the wild display this readily, eating anything from fruit, grains and roots to eggs, bugs, and carrion. Here at the Zoo they enjoy a large amount of fresh fruit and vegetables every day, along with their 'pig mix', and of course their much loved bottles of milk.

Every little pig we've ever looked after goes wild at feeding times... after all, making the most of your meals is one of the best parts of being a pig! But our most recent bunch of piglets have been the most adventurous in their culinary habits that we've experienced in a long time.

Not only do they go nuts for their bottles and squabble wildly for the first pick of the sweetest fruit at breakfast and dinner, but they've taken to spying on their neighbours' snack times (the goats' fresh browse and the juicy grass and extra hay for the sheep) and demanding to have a share of those treats as well! Never before have we had piglets that will so readily chow down on a pile of Lucerne hay, or tear all the leaves off a newly cut lychee branch.

Taking it one step further, our little guys have even taken to tearing the bark from pine branches and crunching them up, leaving the sticks stripped clean! And of course it didn't take them long to catch onto the daily visits from Fred the gardener, gobbling up handfuls of the grain he brings along in moments. Come along and see for yourself just how much our piglets enjoy their meals... but before you laugh and say 'they eat like pigs', just remember there isn't a more natural thing in the world they could be doing!