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Dr. Mike Schlegel, director of Nutritional Services for the Zoological Society of San Diego, works with only one other dietician in order to compose the diets of all the over 4,000 animals at the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park! This includes mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians, invertebrates and birds. Not surprisingly, all of these species require a specific diet and nutrition. One of these animals that Dr. Schlegel composes the diet for is the critically endangered California condor.

Twenty-seven years ago the largest bird in North America, the California condor, was nearly extinct. With only 23 birds remaining in the wild, the Park and Zoo helped these vulture-like birds through breeding efforts. Because of the Zoo and Park’s breeding efforts in cooperation with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Los Angeles Zoo, the Peregrine Fund and other conservation groups, now over 350 birds live on this planet, many of them have been released into the wild. In order for the Zoo to help these creatures be healthy enough to reproduce and learn what is and is not food in the wild, the Zoo had to create a sufficient diet and feeding plan.

This is where a dietician, like Dr. Schlegel, comes in. The diet designed for endangered animals, like the condor, are crucial. Luckily, the Zoo and Park have diets that have proven to be successful. Condors usually eat carrion – such as dead deer, cattle, and sheep – but will also consume dead fish, dead rabbits, and dead rodents. At the Zoo, the birds are interchangeably fed trout, rabbit, rats, beef spleen, and ground meat. Because this carnivore is a scavenger, in the wild they will live days without food. In order to not overfeed, condors at the Park will have “fast” days.

Having the birds become familiar with the kind of food they would find in the wild is helpful when these birds are released throughout the southwestern United States and into Baja California, Mexico. However, Dr. Schlegel’s influence does not drop off once the birds are flying high. It turns out that the field staff nearby helps the birds out by providing carcasses for food. Dr. Schlegel sometimes provides calcium supplements for the birds out in the wild. He also provides a vast amount of know-how to keep all of the animals in the Zoo and Park healthy and happy.

Sarrah, Conservation Team

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