How Gelatine Keeps Sea Lions at Chessington Hydrated

The Human body is roughly 60% water, and staying hydrated is very important for us. Like us, other living things also rely on water in their bodies for many of their body processes to function properly. 

You might think that animals living in water have it easy in this respect, and that might be true in some ways, but we have discovered that our gelatine is a vital component in keeping the sea lions living at Chessington World of Adventures well-hydrated.

Sea-lions do not drink the salt-water of the habitat in which they live. In the wild they get their water solely from the moisture in their diet. They are carnivores, and usually hunt, catch and eat marine animals such as fish and squid. 

At Chessington World of Adventures the sea-lions are fed fish that is shipped frozen, and freezing fish is a process that can reduce its water content. To make sure that their sea-lions stay fit and healthy, the keepers had to find a way to offset the moisture loss from their frozen prey, and they came up with, basically, jelly!!  Essentially they use our gelatine, with water, to make jelly, and give this to their sea-lions.

However, there is more to it than just giving them a jelly’dessert’!!

Not only is the jelly that they make a vital tool for hydration, it adds enrichment for the animals and helps in their training. We are told that the keepers cut the set jelly up into bite-sized cubes and toss them directly into the sea-lion’s mouths during feeding and training sessions.

We’ve known for a long time that people make our gelatine into jellies or jelly drops  to increase the water intake of children and elderly people - but who knew that it works for sea-lions as well!!!

Images by kind permission of Chessingtom World of Adventures