Animeals

Early Birds Get the Worms

Mealworms. Worms for a meal. It’s as basic as it gets, but for many animals at the Virginia Zoo, these bugs are a delicacy and a main component of their diets.

What exactly is a mealworm? It is the larval form of the mealworm beetle, which grows from egg to larvae to pupae, then to adult beetle. They are high in protein and fat and are often a food source for reptiles, birds, small mammals such as the meerkats, and even humans have been known to eat them.

For the Crested Guineafowl and Laughing Kookaburras, nothing is better than being fed this wriggly snack and for today’s Animeals, that’s exactly what happened. Watch the Zoo’s two guineafowl and our female kookaburra, Barbie, enjoying breakfast from Zoo Keeper Kristin.