93 Animal Based Ingredients in Diets for Captive Exotic Animals

Abstract

Abstract Animal managers in zoological facilities are faced with unique challenges when feeding large collections of species. Few nutrient requirements of exotic species are known or established; therefore, diet formulation is a series of scientific extrapolations, mingled with an understanding of natural history of individual species. Goals of nutrition programs in zoos also include supporting behavioral diversity. This leads to the use of a wide variety of animal-based ingredients within zoo nutrition programs to support species across multiple taxa inclusive of amphibians, reptiles, avians, mammals and fish. Commonly used rendered protein ingredients such as fish meal and other meat meals are commonly used in extruded and processed diets developed for exotic species. For example, a commercially marketed extruded diet designed for cranes includes fish meal, porcine meat and bone meal and dried whey. An extruded diet for small exotic felids includes chicken meal, poultry by-product meal and fish meal. While these are commonly accepted animal-based ingredients across different animal industries, other animal protein ingredients are well-accepted in zoos and yet fail to reach general acceptance in other industries including pet food. Some of these common animal-based ingredients used in various zoo diets include insects, whole prey (rodents), raw meat (inclusive of horse and pork) and raw organ meats. These ingredients are often met with reluctance, misunderstanding, or dated information when applied to other animal industries. One example of dated information is the fear of using raw pork in relation to the risk of trichinella. The zoo nutrition industry may provide benefit to other animal industries when exploring opportunities to safely utilize and include novel animal-based ingredients in diet formulations.