Nutrient evaluation of a pork by-product and its use as environmental enrichment for managed large exotic cats

North American zoological institutions typically feed ground raw meat diets to large exotic cats. These diets typically are nutritionally complete, but lack physical properties characteristic of whole prey. Lack of mastication and prey manipulation may contribute to behavioral and health challenges....

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Published inPloS one Vol. 13; no. 9; p. e0202144
Main Authors Iske, Cayla J, Morris, Cheryl L, Colpoys, Jessica D, Kappen, Kelly L, Iennarella, Chelsea A, Johnson, Anna K
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 12.09.2018
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Animal Feed
Animal feeding and feeds
Animal sciences
Animals
Animals, Zoo
Biology and Life Sciences
Byproducts
Caregivers
Cats
Diet
Dietary fiber
Enrichment
Experiments
Food and nutrition
Hogs
Hunting
Mastication
Meat
Meat Products
Medicine and Health Sciences
Nutrient enrichment
Nutrients
Nutrition Assessment
Nutrition research
Nutritional aspects
Panthera
Panthera leo
Panthera tigris altaica
Panthera tigris jacksoni
Panthera tigris tigris
Physical properties
Pork
Prey
Production processes
Red Meat
Zoo animals
Zoology
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Summary:North American zoological institutions typically feed ground raw meat diets to large exotic cats. These diets typically are nutritionally complete, but lack physical properties characteristic of whole prey. Lack of mastication and prey manipulation may contribute to behavioral and health challenges. Pork by-products may provide environmental enrichment to mitigate these challenges. The objectives of this study were to evaluate a pig head for nutritional composition and to determine if a pig head was biologically relevant environmental enrichment for managed large exotic cats. Pig heads consisted of: DM: 48.5%; OM: 60.7%; CP: 38.4%; fat: 22.0%; CF: 13.5%; TDF: 3.4%; GE: 4.1 kcal/g DM. Five individually housed exotic cats (Panthera tigris tigris, Panthera tigris altaica (n = 2), Panthera tigris jacksoni, Panthera leo) were observed in 2-h blocks, 24-h before pig head introduction (Baseline), at time of pig head introduction (Enrichment) and immediately after the pig head was removed (Post Enrichment) via instantaneous scan sampling for 4 consecutive weeks. Active behaviors were 55.7% higher on Enrichment compared to Baseline days, and 26.4% higher compared to Post Enrichment days (p<0.0001). Active behaviors were 39.8% higher on Post Enrichment compared to Baseline days (p<0.0001). Total active behaviors were highest (p<0.0001) in week 3 and lowest (p<0.0001) in week 4 with differences as high as 64.5% seen among weeks. In conclusion, pig heads have potential to provide nutrient dense enrichment to large exotic cats, and employing a pig head as environmental enrichment increased active behaviors and did not lose novelty.
Bibliography:Competing Interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: CLM currently is an employee of Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium and was an employee during the experiment. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium provided her salary throughout the experiment, in addition to access to animals used in the study and animal keeper time required to conduct the data collection. This affiliation with Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium does not alter the author’s adherence to all PLOS ONE polices on sharing data and materials. Blank Park Zoo also provided access to animals and keeper time for accomplishing the data collection. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. CJI was an employee of Iowa State University as a graduate student during the experiment; however, her annual stipend was supported through funding provided by Carnivore Essentials. In addition, Carnivore Essentials provided funding for nutritional analyses of pork by-products evaluated in the study and they also provided the pork by-products through an “in-kind” donation. This affiliation with Carnivore Essentials does not alter the author’s adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
These authors also contributed equally to this work.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0202144