Should Zoo Food Be Chopped for Captive Turacos?

Beth Griffin,James Edward Brereton

doi:10.3390/birds2040031

Abstract

It is common practice for keepers in zoological collections to provide animals in their care with food that is chopped into small pieces. Anecdotally, it has been suggested that chopped food reduces wastage and reduces aggression from group-housed animals. However, there is limited empirical evidence to support these suggestions. To investigate the effects of food condition (chopped or whole food), a study was undertaken on White-cheeked Turacos (Tauraco leucotis) and Fischer’s Turacos (Tauraco fischeri) at two zoological collections in the United Kingdom. This study investigated the effect of food condition on turaco behaviour, the amount of food eaten, and also the amount of time that keepers required to prepare the diet. There was no significant impact on the amount of food eaten as a result of providing whole food. For Fischer’s Turacos, the whole-food condition significantly increased the prevalence of feeding and foraging behaviour, whilst significantly reducing preening. For White-cheeked Turacos, only feeding and foraging was affected by food condition: no other behaviours were significantly affected by chopped or whole food. Keepers on average saved 151 s per meal when preparing whole-food diets. Overall, this study suggests that changing food presentation from chopped to whole has a limited impact on food intake and behaviour. Providing whole-food items may also save valuable keeper time. Future studies should investigate the impact of feeding whole-food items to a wider range of zoo-housed species.

Highlights

Introduction distributed under the terms andDespite considerable research efforts, there remain gaps in the knowledge of zoo and aquarium animal nutrition [1]
The provision of whole fruits and vegetables in the diet of turacos resulted in limited behavioural change, with birds slightly more time engaged in feeding and food manipulation
Food condition had no effect on food intake, suggesting that the birds were not avoiding the feeding style

Summary

Introduction

Introduction distributed under the terms andDespite considerable research efforts, there remain gaps in the knowledge of zoo and aquarium animal nutrition [1]. Zoological collections are faced with the challenge of providing food that is nutritionally comparable to the wild diet, and encouraging animals to express naturalistic feeding behaviours. To further compound this challenge, conditions of the Creative Commons. Birds 2021, 2 many zoo-housed species have yet to be formally studied in the wild or in captivity [2,3]. This limits the availability of keepers and aquarists to provide the most nutritionally suitable diets for their animals. Some food presentation techniques may provide opportunities for animals to engage in species-specific, natural behaviours, such as gnawing, carcass manipulation or plucking of food [4,5,6]

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Conclusion