Banana ban for health-kick monkeys

MONKEYS at a British zoo have been banned from eating bananas - because they are too unhealthy.

Animal nutritionists have likened giving bananas to the primates at Paignton Zoo in Devon to humans eating too much cake and chocolate.

The monkeys have been on a health kick and have been avoiding food that is too sweet and sugary - including bananas.

Amy Plowman, head of conservation and advocacy, said: "People usually try to improve their diet by eating more fruit - but fruit cultivated for humans is much higher in sugar and much lower in protein and fibre than most wild fruit because we like our fruit to be so sweet and juicy.

"Giving this fruit to animals is equivalent to giving them cake and chocolate.

"Compared to the food they would eat in the wild, bananas are much more energy-dense - they have lots of calories - and contain much more sugar that's bad for their teeth and can lead to diabetes and similar conditions.

"It can also cause gastrointestinal problems as their stomachs are mostly adapted to eating fibrous foods with very low digestibility."

Plowman said it had not been too hard to wean the monkeys off bananas and give them vegetables instead.

"They didn't get a choice but - unlike children - they couldn't complain."

A typical monkey diet now features lots of green leafy vegetables, smaller amounts of other vegetables and as much browse - leafy branches - as possible, especially for the leaf-eating monkeys.

A specialist pellet feed gives them the correct balance of nutrients, while small amounts of cooked brown rice can be scattered around enclosures to encourage foraging.

Animals do still get bananas if they are unwell and the keepers need to make sure they take medication.

"Putting it in a piece of banana works really well, as it's such a treat now," Plowman said.

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