Providing nutritionally appropriate diets for zoo animals is a fundamental welfare requirement, but many species have complex nutritional needs that are difficult to meet in captivity.
Zoo nutrition has two welfare dimensions: physical health from nutritional adequacy, and psychological wellbeing from how food is provided. Physical deficiencies — calcium, vitamins, minerals — cause chronic disease. Excess calories from inappropriate diets cause obesity, which shortens lives and reduces mobility. The provision of food also matters: animals fed from a bowl rather than through foraging lose a major source of cognitive stimulation and daily structure. Food puzzles, scatter feeding, and browse provision all address both nutritional and behavioural welfare simultaneously.