Banana leaves grown on Buffalo Zoo campus provide special treat for our gorillas
Even our gorillas received some special treats during the Halloween season — and it’s all thanks to the hard work of the Buffalo Zoo’s grounds team!
After planting banana trees alongside Parkside Avenue earlier this year, our grounds team harvested the trees’ massive leaves last week and gave them to our gorillas Babatunde, Sidney and Lily to enjoy!
Gorillas are herbivores, and they’ll eat anything from foliage to fruit to flowers in the wild — including banana tree leaves. In the case of our gorillas, their diet consists mainly of vegetables, including lettuce and carrots.
The trio took some time to get used to the banana leaves, as they were initially skeptical about the new greenery dotting their habitat. However, over time, they became more interested in the leaves. They eventually picked them up, carried them around and used them for nests.
As with anybody around a new food for the first time, they seemed a bit hesitant to indulge. However, after eating their usual diet first, it wasn’t long before they gave the banana tree leaves a try!
The mission to get our gorillas banana leaves was sparked earlier this year, when our grounds team worked in conjunction with our animal care team to create a list of new or different plants that could be grown for our animals to eat.
Among the plants now being grown are five different willow species, sweetgums, sugar maples and of course, the banana trees. Growing a plant in Buffalo that’s native to tropical climates is no easy feat, but thanks to the help of Clark Johnson of Barefoot Gardener who helped import the banana trees, our grounds team was able to take on this process of growing them.
It was hard work, as the grounds team had to install a special irrigation setup and stay consistent with care in order to allow the plants to grow optimally. When winter rolls around, they plan to insulate and bury the plants to keep them protected, before allowing them to thrive once again next spring!
While the banana trees will likely never flower and produce bananas due to Buffalo’s climate, the leaves will still be able to provide a unique, tasty diet item for our gorilla trio each year.
