Yohn Sutton makes a lot of meals every day—up to 140, to be exact. He chops apples. He bakes sweet potatoes. He boils eggs. But he isn’t cooking at a fancy restaurant or for a cafeteria full of kids. His hungry diners are hairy or slimy. Some even swing from tree branches. He’s the nutrition keeper at the Virginia Zoo.

    Feeding hungry animals isn’t as simple as you might think. Like humans, animals need a balance of vitamins and other nutrients in every meal. And if an animal gets sick, Yohn must work closely with his team of veterinarians to make sure the animal gets the foods it needs to recover. We talked to him about his important work.

How did you get your job? 

    I took biology classes in college and later got an internship at the zoo. After graduating, I started working as a zookeeper. In 2016, I became the zoo’s nutrition keeper. 

What’s a typical day like for you? 

    I start my shift at 6:45 a.m. First I check to make sure we have enough food for the day. Then I start preparing the meals. After I’m done, we have to wash the dishes. There are at least 200 dishes to do every day! 

How much food do you need to feed all the animals?

    We get an average of 1,100 pounds of fruits and vegetables every week. We also receive about 4,000 pounds of meat and 15,000 pounds of grains each month. 

How does nutrition for animals differ from nutrition for people? 

    We know less about animal nutrition as a whole. But here’s one example: You might eat fruit as a sweet snack. For a sloth, a flower would be a better choice. That’s because sloths digest food very slowly. Often they won’t use the bathroom for up to seven days! They need high-fiber, low-sugar foods. A flower provides some of that fiber—and a little sweetness too. 

Do you have any picky eaters? 

    Our pickiest animal is probably our siamang [a type of ape]. She prefers a variety of foods in her diet. She gets about 60 different items a week—from a peanut butter sandwich to mixed nuts to chicken. She really likes baked chicken. One day I boiled it and she refused to eat it. She just threw it on the ground!