Abstract
BackgroundImbalanced feeding regimes may initiate gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases in endangered felids kept in captivity such as cheetahs. Given the crucial role of the host’s intestinal microbiota in feed fermentation and health maintenance, a better understanding of the cheetah’s intestinal ecosystem is essential for improvement of current feeding strategies. We determined the phylogenetic diversity of the faecal microbiota of the only two cheetahs housed in an EAZA associated zoo in Flanders, Belgium, to gain first insights in the relative distribution, identity and potential role of the major community members.ResultsTaxonomic analysis of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries (702 clones) revealed a microbiota dominated by Firmicutes (94.7%), followed by a minority of Actinobacteria (4.3%), Proteobacteria (0.4%) and Fusobacteria (0.6%). In the Firmicutes, the majority of the phylotypes within the Clostridiales were assigned to Clostridium clusters XIVa (43%), XI (38%) and I (13%). Members of the Bacteroidetes phylum and Bifidobacteriaceae, two groups that can positively contribute in maintaining intestinal homeostasis, were absent in the clone libraries and detected in only marginal to low levels in real-time PCR analyses.ConclusionsThis marked underrepresentation is in contrast to data previously reported in domestic cats where Bacteroidetes and Bifidobacteriaceae are common residents of the faecal microbiota. Next to methodological differences, these findings may also reflect the apparent differences in dietary habits of both felid species. Thus, our results question the role of the domestic cat as the best available model for nutritional intervention studies in endangered exotic felids.
Highlights
Imbalanced feeding regimes may initiate gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases in endangered felids kept in captivity such as cheetahs
To start bridging the knowledge gap between the design of nutritional intervention strategies and the prediction of potential health benefits, this study aimed to inventorize the predominant faecal microbiota of the only two captive cheetahs held in a zoo in Flanders (Belgium) associated with the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA)
Among the remaining operational taxonomic unit (OTU), 11 OTUs were unique to clone library B1 and 19 to clone library B2
Summary
Imbalanced feeding regimes may initiate gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases in endangered felids kept in captivity such as cheetahs. Captive exotic felids are usually fed once a day a commercially prepared raw meat diet, sometimes supplemented with a vitamin and mineral premix, or whole carcasses [11]. The latter comes with variable amounts of indigestible animal tissues, such as raw bones, tendons, cartilage, skin, hair or feather. The undigested portion of the diet provides the main source of fermentable substrates for the intestinal microbiota, which form the main go-between in the translation of nutritional properties of the diet to health benefits for the host [12]. Comparison of mammalian gut microbiotas has shown that diet is, next to gut physiology, a major regulator of faecal microbiota composition [13]
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