L3: Feeds and Feeding of Wildlife & Exotic Pets

Question 1

Food eaten by animals will impact their bodily functions:
1. External effects
2. Internal effects
3. Effects on recovering animals

Answer 1

External effects:
- Coat condition (skin, feathers, fur, hair)
- Energy level (activeness)
- Size: including muscle mass
- Strength

Internal effects:
- Cellular repair
- Vital organs functions
- Bone strength
- Behavior & mentation

Effects on recovering animals:
- Immune system
- Formation of new cells

Question 2

Dentition & Diets: Carnivore

Answer 2

Main diet: meat, bones, intestines, liver, brain, skin
with fur/feathers (whole carcass)

-Feline:
Tiger, lion, black panther, leopard cat, clouded
leopard
- Canine:
Dhole, hyena, wolf, fox
- Reptiles:
Python, cobra, lizards
- Raptors:
Eagle, falcon, owl

If fed meat alone, needs minerals (calcium) and vitamins supplements

Question 3

Dentition & Diets: Herbivore

Answer 3

Plants are difficult to digest: fibre, cellulose, lignin.
* Teeth are adapted to grinding of
feedstuff.
* Gut microorganisms

Main diet : grass, leaves, fruits, flowers, trunk/stem (banana, sugarcane), roots (potatoes, carrots)
Ruminant: a special group of herbivores

• 4 stomach sections
• rumen, reticulum, omasum, abomasum
• Microorganisms in the stomach (rumen) to
  aid digestion: amino acids, VFA

2 types of ruminant :
* Grazer: grass feeder > bovine. Ankole cattle, Malayan gaur, oryx and sheep - rumen (ruminant), Horse, zebra, donkey, white rhinoceros – extended cecum
* Browser: leaves feeder > giraffe, deer. Deer, goat, serow – rumen (ruminant). Elephant and Malayan tapir –
Cecum: long & enlarged

Plant based as main diet
Too much concentrates > lead to bloat > can be fatal

Question 4

Dentition & Diets: Omnivore

Answer 4

Main diet is plant based, will consume animal protein when available.
Could not synthesize all required nutrients, vitamins and minerals from plants.

Question 5

Feeding Primates

Answer 5

1. Omnivore
   - Eat anytime of the day (mostly diurnal)
   - Variety in diet
   - Search for food all the time
2. Leaf monkeys – leaves
   Feed too much in one time > ill
   Fruits > bloat > death

Macaques – check pouch to store food
Eat when it is safe

Not to overfeed to prevent obesity > foraging behavior > enrichment

Question 6

Feeding birds

Answer 6

1. Herbivores: Vegetables, fruits & grains
2. Omnivores: Vegetables, grass, leaves, fruits, small preys
3. Carnivores: fish & meat (carcass)