Turtley Awesome Animeals

The warm weather means more of our animals come out of their temperature controlled shelters to bask in the sun or take dips in their pools. The same goes for our five Aldabra tortoises – AJ, Bubbles, Dotty, Jackson and Lynn St. James, who trekked outside to enjoy the sunshine and a special feast.

Chef Yohn prepared a turtley-awesome meal that looked surprisingly like its shelled counterparts. Once the tortoises saw the yummy treats, they came running as fast as they could, which took a few minutes since we all know tortoises are slower than most animals. On the menu for this month’s Animeals is a healthy meal made of cabbage, sweet potato, pear and tortoise chow, strategically placed together to form what our Zoo Chef likes to call “Purple Tortules”!

All of the ingredients used in making the tortoises’ meal can be found on their daily diet sheets. The tortoises also get a serving of grain, such as hay, to go along with their daily fruits, veggies and greens.

Turtley awesome purple tortules (Makes 5 meals)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 sweet potatoes

• 2 1/2 pears

• 2 1/2 cabbages

• Tortoise chow

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Cut the cabbages in half. This will be the “turtle shell.”

Step 2: Partly peel back a layer of the rounded side of the cabbage and carve a hole partially down into the cabbage.

Step 3: Fill the hole with tortoise chow and fold back the layer of cabbage to cover the pellets.

Step 4: Cut the sweet potatoes into rectangular chunks. These will be the turtle legs / feet.

Step 5: Cut four small holes, two on either side. These holes should be where legs are naturally placed on real turtles.

Step 6: Snugly put one piece of sweet potato into each hole.

Step 7: Cut a pear into the shape shown below. This is the turtle “head.”

Step 8: Cut a small hole in the front of the cabbage.

Step 9: Snugly fit the end of the pear into the hole.

Step 10: Look at the tortoises munch away!

Stay tuned for the next Animeals!

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