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BSC Zoology - Nutrition and Digestion > Lecture 18- Exotic animal nutrition > Flashcards

Lecture 18- Exotic animal nutrition Flashcards

1
Q

What are the challenges with exotic animal nutrition?

A

• Few true exotic animal nutritionists • training sites?
• Lack of cooperation (between zoos) • shared resources allow specialization
• Willingness to change (within zoos)
• Experimental data on requirements
• Funding and animal availability
• Animals living in ambient environments different to their native
regions
• Cooler or warmer than the animal has evolved in

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2
Q

What is the diversity of exotic animals?

A
  • Over 1 million animal species identified • 4000 mammals
  • 9000 birds
  • 6300 reptiles
  • 4200 amphibians
  • 18,800 fish and lower chordates
  • 3000 species represented in zoos
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3
Q

What is the nutritional knowledge base?

A
  • Nutrient needs known for 11 species • rats and mice
  • dogs and cats
  • pigs and humans
  • cattle and sheep
  • horses
  • chickens and turkeys
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4
Q

How can you formulate a diet for exotics?

A
  • Extrapolation from related species
  • Modifications for:
  • digestive system morphology and function • metabolic body size
  • stage of development
  • physiological function or workload
  • natural habitat and feeding strategies
  • natural dietary items preferred
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5
Q

What is the gut and metabolic body size and the influence of that?

A
  • Includes oral anatomy
  • Ex., black rhinoceros vs. white rhinoceros
  • foregut vs. hind-gut fermentation
  • modifications of fermentation chambers • other herbivores
  • omnivores
  • carnivores
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6
Q

What is the importance of prehension in diet formulation?

A 
• 1:White Rhino (“wijd” = wide) • Squared off upper lip used to
“crop” grass
• Grazes on savannah
-•2: Black Rhino
• Prehensile upper lip for browsing
• Consumes bushes and shrubs in forest
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7
Q

Why is the stage of development important?

A
  • Birth to 1 day
  • Pre-weaning
  • Weaning to puberty • Puberty to maturity • Mature period
  • Senescence
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8
Q

What needs to be considered in terms of physiological and/or workload?

A
  • Pregnancy • Lactation • Disease
  • Environmental conditions • Weather
  • Space restrictions • Animal density
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9
Q

What about habitat and feeding strategies?

A
  • Eisenberg’s Matrix widely used
  • considers both habitat and food preferences
  • Feeding behaviors very important
  • Feed preferences somewhat important
  • Wild-type diet vs. optimal diet
  • Feeds eaten in their natural environment may not be available to zoo animals
  • Food vs. nutrient requirements • Captive vs. wild animals
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10
Q

What is the classification of ruminants by feeding preference?

A
  • Classes of ruminants • Concentrate selectors

• Intermediate feeders • Roughage grazers

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11
Q

What are the characteristics of concentrate selecting species?

A
  • Properties
  • Evolved early
  • Small rumens
  • Poorly developed omasums • Large livers
  • Limited ability to digest fiber
  • Classes
  • Fruit and forage selectors • Very selective feeders
  • Duikers,sunis
  • Tree and shrub browsers
  • Eat highly lignified plant tissues to extract cell solubles • Deer,giraffes,kudus
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12
Q

What are the characteristics of intermediate feeding species?

A
  • Properties
  • Seasonally adaptive
  • Feeding preference • Prefer browsing
  • Moose,goats,elands • Prefer grazing
  • Sheep, impalas
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13
Q

What are the characteristics of roughage grazing species?

A
  • Properties
  • Late evolved
  • Larger rumens and longer retention times
  • Less selective
  • Digests fermentable cell wall carbohydrates
  • Classes
  • Fresh grass grazers
  • Buffalo, cattle, gnus • Roughage grazers
  • Hartebeests, topis • Dry region grazers
  • Camels, antelope, oryxes
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14
Q

What are the goals for diets?

A
  • Diets should:
  • Promote health
  • Allow reproduction • Promote longevity
  • Consider:
  • Economics
  • Ease of storage and handling
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15
Q

What are other considerations to consider with diet?

A
  • Frequency of feeding
  • daily requirements vs. weekly vs. constant
  • Competition for feed (group feeding)
  • Feed sorting
  • Order of feeding
  • ruminants and other herbivores
  • Protein quality vs. quantity
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16
Q

What do you have to consider in terms of nutrition and aging?

A
  • Tooth wear and loss
  • Rumen environment
  • Body condition
  • Increased nutrient requirements • Decreased absorptive capacity
17
Q

What are the problem nutrients?

A
  • Protein
  • Calcium
  • Phosphorus
  • Nutrients requiring carrier-mediated transport systems • Fat and fat-soluble vitamins
  • Antioxidants
18
Q

What is the importance of beta carotene?

A
  • Effects independent from vitamin A
  • Low beta-carotene intake
  • increased inter-estrus intervals • delayed ovulation
  • low LH peak
  • low blood progesterone
  • increased embryonic mortality
19
Q

What are the strategies and speculations with diet selection?

A
  • Age-based feeding systems where possible • immature forages
  • increased nutrient density • processed grains
  • smaller meals
  • total mixed rations
  • Supplements
20
Q

How do you monitor ration success?

A
  • Faecal consistency (firm)
  • Time spent ruminating (8 hours)
  • Rumen fluid pH (above 7.0)
  • Plasma urea nitrogen (14-16 mg/dl) • Hoof health
21
Q

What are the carnivore families?

A
  • Canidae (dogs)
  • Ursidae (bears)
  • Mustelidae (otters, badgers, skunks, weasels, BF ferret)
  • Pinnipeds (3 families)
  • Felidae
  • Procyonidae (raccoons, coatimundi)
  • Hyaenidae (hyenas, aardwolf)
  • Viverridae (civets, genets, fossa)
  • Herpesidae (mongoose, meerkat)
22
Q

What are the unique challenges in exotic animal nutrition?

A
  • Nutrient Requirements are unknown.
  • Exotic NRC’s currently available. • MinkandFoxes,1982
  • Non-Human Primates, 2003
  • Groups are housed together. • Various physiological stages
  • Various body conditions
  • Multiple species exhibits. • Feeding behaviors.
23
Q

Why do carnivores have high protein requirements?

A
  • When we eat a high protein diet:
  • High hepatic amino acid metabolic enzyme activity
  • High amino acid catabolism
  • High nitrogen disposal
  • High rate of gluconeogenesis
  • Advantage of this metabolic adaptation:
  • Catabolize excess amino acids and remove excess nitrogenous wastes.
  • Strict carnivores such as felids CANNOT down regulate hepatic catabolic enzymes.
  • Felids catabolize substantial amounts of protein after every meal regardless of protein content of the meal.
24
Q

What are the characteristics of prime hunters?

A
  • Acute senses: sight, hearing, smell.
  • Cooperative hunting.
  • Killing strategies:
  • Weasels = smash prey’s skull by strong bites to back of the head.
  • Felids = typically strike at the neck to snap the spinal cord. • Canids = violently shake to dislocate the neck.
25
Q

What are the skeletal adaptations of hunters?

A
  • Fused wrist bones = absorbs shock of running.
  • Short collarbone for increased mobility and longer stride. • Flexible spine.
  • Felids have retractile claws.
26
Q

What are the nutritional idiosyncrasies in felids?

A
  • High protein requirement.
  • Specific requirement for 2 amino acids: • Arginine
  • Taurine
  • Arachidonic Acid
  • Preformed Vitamin A
  • Preformed Vitamin D
  • Inability to convert tryptophan to niacin
  • Anatomical differences from other carnivores • Fewer teeth = no molars
  • Shorter gastrointestinal tract
  • Insignificant cecum
  • Lower ability to digest plant carbohydrates
27
Q

What are the nutrition requirements for tigers?

A
  • General requirements of 140 kcal kg0.75
  • 123 kg female requires 5170 kcal/day (~3.1 kg commercial diet) • 160 kg male requires 6300 kcal/day
  • Appetites improve if the animals are fasted 1-2 days per week
  • Bones fed for teeth health and enrichment
  • Diets mixed on site need to be kept clean
  • Preparation spaces important (need to be free of pests, chemicals & microorganisms) • Labour intensive
  • How much does a wild tiger eat? • Varies but about 10-12 kg per day
  • Wild animals will gorge themselves
28
Q

What do you base the diet on with felids?

A

-Amounts Fed Based on Energy Density of Diet and Animal Weight
• Feline requirement = 50-70 kcal * body weight (kg). • Example = African Lion
• Current weight = 275.5 kg
• 70 kcal * 275.5 kg = 19,285 kcal/day • 19,285 (kcal) / 3,384.6 (kcal/kg)
• 5.69 kg per day.

29
Q

What are clinical nutrition and considerations for felids?

A

• Oral disease = excessive dental plaque and calculus formation. • May lead to complications such as compromised renal function, liver
abscesses.
• Renal Disease.
• Food storage, handling and preparation considerations. All meat is inspected.

30
Q

Are wild canids similar to domestic candids?

A
  • Wild canids are VERY similar to domestic canids. • Energy requirements =
  • 90-145 kcal * Metabolic Body Weight0.75
31
Q

What are the nutritional considerations for canids?

A
  • High polyunsaturated fatty acid content results in high lipid peroxidation and loss of Vitamin E.
  • Thiaminase has higher activity in frozen fish.
  • Result of feeding frozen fish = low in Vitamin E and Thiamin. • Fish are dosed with supplement prior to hand feeding.
32
Q

What are the nutrition requirements for orangutans?

A
  • Opportunistic generalistic herbivores • Water required
  • Drinking and for play
  • Spend ~60% of the day foraging
  • Important for enrichment
  • Large home range (5-6kms for reproductive females) • Eat 1-25 foods per day
  • Preference for fruits
  • Vegetative parts of many plants can be toxic in large quantities • Neighbouring females will share trees & food resources
  • Will eat insects (
33
Q

What are the nutrition requirements for chimpanzees?

A
  • Primarily eat fruit
  • Also flowers, seeds, leaves and insects (1-5% of diet) • Will stalk and kill other monkeys and small animals
  • Monkey ‘biscuits’ can be fed
  • But should be accompanied by fresh fruits etc.
  • Foraging accounts for >50% daily activity • Important for welfare and enrichment
  • Should be fed multiple times per day
  • Excessive indoor housing can cause vitamin D deficiencies
  • Fruits should be fed whole
  • Skins house important nutrients
34
Q

What are the nutrition requirements for red panda?

A
  • Require bamboo daily • At least 200g
  • Important fibre source
  • Excess fruit & veg can be dangerous • Not nutritionally important
  • They do like them (sweet!)
35
Q

What are the nutrition requirements for rhinoceros?

A
  • Consume a large number of diverse plants
  • Nutritional imbalances are believed to be responsible for many health issues in captivity
  • Domestic horse is a good model for rhino nutrition to be based from • NRCforhorsesisused
  • Grazing rhinos (white) need grass
  • Browsing rhinos (black & Sumatran) need mixed legume hay and hays etc.
  • Concentrates are fed to balance energy, protein & mineral requirements etc. • Pellet size needs to fit type (smaller pellets tolerated by browsing rhinos)
  • DMI of 1-1.6% of bodymass per day
  • Wean at about 6 months • Weaningisslow
36
Q

What are the characteristics of sloths?

A
  • Medium sized mammal • 4-9kg
  • Foliovore - browse feeders
  • Leaves are primary food source
  • Also eat insects, lizards & carrion • 1200 – 6500 m2 home range
  • Large slow acting stomachs
  • Bacterial fermentation
  • Digestion can take >1 month! (11-30 days)
  • 2/3 of body weight can be stomach & its contents
  • Low BMR
  • Less than 1⁄2 predicted based on body size
  • Low core temperature (30-34°C)
  • Spend about 70% of their day resting or sleeping
  • Stomach, spleen & liver in different locations to other mammals • Due to upside down lifestyle
  • Four-chambered ‘rumen style’ stomach
  • Low water requirement
  • Can concentrate urine well
  • Will drink more in captivity compared to the wild
37
Q

What is unique about sloth fur?

A

• Sloth fur is unique:
• Outer hairs grow in opposite direction to other mammals (away from
extremities) to protect from elements
• In moist conditions a symbiotic cyanobacteria lives in fur to provide camouflage
• Outer fur is thick & brown but can appear green due to the bacteria that the sloth can lick to obtain nutrients from the bacteria
• Slow movement provides camouflage
• Sloths will only move when necessary and move slowly
• They have 1⁄2 as much muscle tissue as other mammals of comparable size • Spend most of their time hanging upsidedown from branches

BSC Zoology - Nutrition and Digestion (24 decks)

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