The mighty task was carried out by Dr. Andrea Fidgett - the only full-time Zoo Nutritionist in the UK - who has put together a diet plan to provide the best nutritional support for everything from stick insects to Sumatran tigers.

Dr. Fidgett said:"Every animal has had a personalised diet designed for them to do with their personal tastes, how active they are and their age and health. So it’s a huge book.

"By looking closely at their nutrition the animals are more likely to be healthy, happy and relaxed, and therefore, much more likely to breed."

Dr. Fidgett added: "Just as there may be plenty of foods which you would rather not eat, animals can be picky too.

"Knowledge gained from pets and farms animals comes in useful. For example, the big cats like lions and tigers eat similar food to your pet cat. And giraffes have four-chambered stomachs, just like cows.

"Anyone who thinks that feeding zoo animals is as easy as zookeepers throwing a piece of meat to a lion or a handful of fruit to a chimp every now and again, should certainly think again."

If you ever host a dinner party for the following zoo animals, here’s some helpful advice:

Some of the smallest mouths to feed belong to Partula snails: they like a blend of oats, dried grass, fish pellets and cuttlefish bone, ground to a paste and smeared in their tanks – yum!

Hornbills enjoy their colourful fruit salads with unique garnish: serve chopped apple, pear, grapes, blueberries and papaya with a light sprinkling of mealworms and locusts.

It’s a seafood menu for Asian small-clawed otters: - serve freshwater fish, crayfish and crabs.

Food facts about Chester Zoo

Between them, the animals at Chester Zoo get through over 400 tonnes of fresh fruit and vegetables a year.

Animals such as tamarins, frogs and lizards eat over 1 million locusts and crickets a year.

The zoo’s Caribbean and Chilean flamingos would be a little off colour if it wasn’t for a special pigment in their diet that makes them pink.

Bali, the zoo’s 23ft-long adult python, may only eat two or three times a year.