Browse information at your fingertips – the foragers source

Citation

Irlbeck NA, Lease C. 2005. Browse information at your fingertips – the foragers source. In Graffam W, Hellinga D, Maslanka M, Ward A, Eds. Proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Zoo and Wildlife Nutrition, AZA Nutrition Advisory Group, Omaha, NE.

Abstract

The use of browse to manage dietary requirements of many animal species is becoming more important within zoological institutions. Browse can include shrubs, trees, woody vines and stems, including various plant parts like berries and flowers. Browse is important as a dietary constituent for many captive wild animals, but critical for others. It has also become essential for enrichment purposes and animal health. For zoological institutions that utilize browse, it is common practice to maintain a list of the types of browse that can be safely fed to target species. Some institutions actively trade browse lists with other institutions. Due to fluctuations in the nutritional properties of browse harvested at different locations at different times of the year, this system is less than optimal. The Foragers Source website (http://www.foragerssource.org) is a proposed solution.

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