Zoo Nutrition Flashcards
How do we classify herbivores?
- Grazers vs browsers
- Atriodactyla v Perissodactyla
- Monogastric vs foregut vs hindgut fermenters
Describe grazers?
relatively larger and more developed rumen and omasum than browsers but smaller reticulum
Describe browsers?
- Shorter food retention times & longer foraging times
- Salivary glands secrete tannins to help neutralize toxins
- Their liver are larger to detoxify noxious substances
- Don’t have rumen stratification - particles of browse are polygonal in shape compared to longish fibre length particles in grass
Rumen stratification grazers vs browsers?
What categories does atriodactyla include?
- Foregut fermenters -> Ruminants (4 stomachs), Pseudoruminnts ‘(3), and non-ruminanting foregut fermenters
- Also include suids (monogastrics)
What diets for Atriodactyls?
- Forage should be the main component of the diet
and offered on an ad lib basis - This should be supplemented with a commercial
concentrate pellet and / or mineral lick to balance
micronutrients
Grazers: high level fibre rq
Browsers: higher protein content with yopugn leaves & shoots
Monitor energy, protein and fat to avoid obesity
describe GIT of perissodactyla
- Less effective digestion compared to ruminants, hence require more bulk
- Large amounts of time spent feeding - designed to process high volumes of low-quality material
How do we cater to nutritional and physiological rq when designing a diet?
- Provision of nutrients in correct amounts - supp with mineral licks
- Bulk & roughage - good quality provision of supp forage (hay & lucerne) in addition to natural provisions
- Ensure adequate diet for dentition
- Feeding height?
- Seasonality? changes in BCS accordingly?
How can we provide for bhvr rq through diet?
- Forage main component of hoofstock diet - engagement with it important
- Creating opportunities for inc feeding & foraging times -> dec stereotypes etc
- Food presentation methods? group structure & hierarchy
- Dietary variation
- Paddock access
- Browse
Problem with browse?
PROBLEM: we don’t have enough of it
- Sourcing enough browse year round challenge
- During summer barrel browse for silage to be fed over winter
- Lucerne hay next best substitute but still doesn’t compare to browse
How has diet of captive hoofstock evolved?
- Zoo moving away from inapprorpiate ingredients like grains
- Greater focus on forage and browse & food presentation/ bhvr stim
Hippo diet?
- Low metabolic rate = prone to obesity when captive
- Potentila for overgrowth of canines and injuries to oral mucosa, poss due to insufficient tooth wear & inappropriate food components
- Risk of acidosis
Carnivores nutrition?
- Don’t eat meat they eat animals -> range of nutrients from bones, skin, fur, organs, muscle etc
- Single monogastrics
- typically fed horse meed historically
- Cull & feed back in
GI dx in captive cheetas?
- Positive correlation between whole carcass feeding and reduced incidence of gastritis
- Higher rate of gastritis when fed horse meat
- Commercially prepped diets -> higher prevalence fo loose faeces
- Ribs & long bone feeding 1x weekly ass with lower odds of vomiting
Captive carnivore diets?
- Focus on whole carcass
- Meat only needs supp - e.g. Ca:P balance
- fibvre- digestive health
- Metabolic bone dx & skeletal abn
- Taurine - essential aa
- hypervit A
- Bhvr needs
Describe Primate nutrition?
Different modes of digestion e.g. ruminant like tract of colobines
Many different foods depending on seasonal availability