Zoo cuts bananas out of monkey diets

England - A British zoo said its monkeys have been put on a banana-free diet because the fruits are too sweet and sugary. Officials at the Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in Devon, England, said the facility weaned its monkeys off of fruit and onto a more vegetable-focused diet because it is healthier for the primates. "People usually try to improve their diet by eating more fruit -- but fruit cultivated for humans is much higher in sugar and much lower in protein and fiber than most wild fruit because we like our fruit to be so sweet and juicy. Giving this fruit to animals is equivalent to giving them cake and chocolate," said Amy Plowman, the zoo`s head of conservation and advocacy. and an expert in animal nutrition. More