Animal Care Manuals

Associations of Zoos & Aquarium’s animal care manuals: What is the nutrition advisory group’s role?

The Species Survival Plan ® (SSP) or Taxon Advisory Group (TAG) is responsible for creating and updating information on their prospective species. It is important to assemble this information in a systematic and consistent manner. In 2005, the Association of Zoo & Aquariums (AZA) created standardized guidelines. Considering the exact nutrient requirements of many exotic animals held in captivity are...

Rhinoceros Husbandry Manual

It is believed that many of the health problems identified in captive rhinos may be linked to nutritional factors. Rhinos consume a large number of plants with a diverse array of physical characteristics and nutrients. They represent a range of feeding strategies and consequently diet, from browsers (or selective feeders) to unselective grazers. Captive diets may include possible imbalances in...

Tiger Nutrition, Food Preparation and Feeding

Unique nutritional requirements of fe lids must be recognized in feeding captive tigers, including the need for high protein and fat diets, inclusion of dietary vitamin A (as retinol), arachadonic acid, taurine, and niacin. General reviews of felid nutrition (Scott 1968, MacDonald et al. 1984), a more specific review applying these data to captive tiger management (Dierenfeld 1987), and a...

Red Wolf Nutrition

Introduction: Periodically, red wolves from the captive population may be selected for release into the wild. However, it is not the responsibility of the RWSSP to feed red wolves a diet that they will find in the wild. Biologists in the field will assist the wolves in making the transition from a captive diet to natural prey items. Consistency in...

Okapi Nutrition

North American and European okapi nutrition advisors collected information on and compared okapi diets fed in North American and European zoos. The data also were compared with available data from studies of captive okapi offered natural food items in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). Based on these findings and other information described in that paper, recommendations for feeding...

Diets for Micronesian Kingfisher Halcyon c. cinnamomina

Due to the rapid decline of the Micronesian kingfisher on Guam, little information on their nutritional needs was gathered prior to the establishment of a captive population. Although it is essential to develop appropriate dietary guidelines which meet the nutritional needs of the Micronesian kingfisher, additional information on their natural feeding behavior can no longer be obtained now that the...

Maned wolf nutritional management

The difference between facultative and strict carnivores may be illustrated by comparing the domestic dog and the domestic cat. Many canids have broad feeding habits, including a variety of fruits and other plant parts in their natural diets. By contrast, felids show no tendency to omnivory; they are all essentially predators. Nutritional studies indicate that the domestic dog and the...

Husbandry Protocol for Golden Lion Tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia rosalia)

Lion tamarins are primarily omnivorous. In the past, many captive animals suffered from protein and vitamin D3 deficiencies since captive diets were heavily biased towards fruit. In recent years more balanced diets have been achieved. Both zoos and laboratories, however, usually supplement these diets since the actual requirements of the species are not known. Vitamin D3 supplementation is required since...