News and Stories

Can (or should) you give a mouse a cookie? You would have to ask our zoo animal nutritionist, Barbara Henry!

At the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, mealtime is serious business. Every leaf of lettuce, every scoop of grain, and every carefully prepared snack is part of a plan to keep animals healthy and thriving. Behind it all is curator of nutrition, aka zoo animal nutritionist, Barbara Henry.

Instead of planning meals for people, she creates diets for hundreds of species, from tiny insects to massive mammals. Each animal has different nutritional needs based on its species, age, health, and activity level. Some need extra vitamins, some need special supplements, and others need carefully measured portions to make sure they stay at a healthy weight.

Barbara Henry has been a dedicated animal nutritionist at the Cincinnati Zoo for more than 20 years. 30 years ago, when she began her career, there were 7 zoos in North America that had trained nutritionists—today there are 21, reflecting how much the field has grown and how important proper nutrition is to animal care.

Collaboration is a big part of Barbara’s work. She partners closely with Cincinnati Zoo keepers and vets and also connects with nutrition experts across the world to share knowledge.

One of Barbara’s favorite parts of the job is solving the daily “puzzles” that come with feeding a wide variety of species. A diet might look perfect on paper but still not work for a particular animal—after all, animals can be picky eaters just like people. Sometimes creativity is required. When a bonobo named Vergil needed to take medicine, he kept managing to eat around the pill no matter how it was hidden. Finally, keepers tucked the medicine inside a lemon—and surprisingly, Vergil ate the whole thing, sour fruit and all!

Barbara’s job includes working very closely with the keeper and vet teams! Each species has a meal plan with diet suggestions that keepers can choose from based on enrichment and training.

Some fun facts:

• Elephants love broccoli
• Rico likes air-popped popcorn
• Bears and skunks are seasonal eaters
• Barbara created the hippo milk formula that saved Fiona!
• Some animals even have allergies, just like humans, and need extra care when planning their diets.
  • Bonobos Nora, Jan, and Zanga have a peanut allergy, while Gilda is allergic to strawberries.

And while the work is highly scientific, there’s still plenty of fun involved. Creating enrichment foods like frozen treats for birthdays or browse-based snacks helps keep animals mentally stimulated while also meeting their dietary needs. It’s all part of making sure mealtime is both nutritious and engaging.

So the next time you see an animal enjoying a snack at the Zoo, remember: there’s a lot of thought and care behind every bite — and Barbara Henry is the one helping make it all happen.

Eat Like an Animal

Have a zoo-loving kid who is stuck in a food rut? Consider telling them to “Eat like an animal!”