. and their food.
US & UK The Wildlife Conservation Centre (US) and Chester Zoo (UK) are also members of EAZA, and has taken a comprehensive, computer software approach to the problems of supplying zoo animal requirements. With the catchy name Zootrition, this dietary and nutrition management software database of the nutritional content of over 3000 feedstuffs commonly used to feed zoo animals and wildlife, from hay to crickets, and calculate the nutritional content of diets based on the amounts used.
Potential nutritional deficiencies and toxicities can be calculated, complete diets formulated on a least costs basis (if necessary).
The software is windows-based and extremely user-friendly. Once a complete diet has been designed, analysed and compared to the energy needs of the species in question, its specific eating habits, physiological stage, activity level and published data on reference materials and protocols, the whole report can be printed as a list or a graph.
Combine this with the Dutch requirements tables and nutritional problems in zoos may well be thing of the past!
Feed mix, 2002, Volume 10, Number 5
Zootritionists Know your exotics
.
The Netherlands as recently as 30 years ago, 25 % of animals housed in zoos died as a result of inadequate nutrition. Although this been vastly improved, still only 20 % of the worlds zoos have a dedicated nutritionist. As we continue to destroy wild habitats across the world, our captive populations become more valuable gene pools. This makes it all the more important that zoo animals are maintained in peak condition.
The European Zoo Nutrition Centre based at the offices of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) at the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam has just finished compiling a new handbook on the nutritional requirements of zoo animals, which will be available from the beginning of 2003. Entitled Zoo Animal Nutrition Tables and Guidelines, the booklets four central themes are: nutritional targets for exotic animals; composition of commercially available feedstuffs; practical feeding tips and advise on the husbandry of the various species included.
For more information, please contact the European Zoo Nutrition Centre: info@eznc.org, www.eznc.org .
The Netherlands as recently as 30 years ago, 25 % of animals housed in zoos died as a result of inadequate nutrition. Although this been vastly improved, still only 20 % of the worlds zoos have a dedicated nutritionist. As we continue to destroy wild habitats across the world, our captive populations become more valuable gene pools. This makes it all the more important that zoo animals are maintained in peak condition.
The European Zoo Nutrition Centre based at the offices of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) at the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam has just finished compiling a new handbook on the nutritional requirements of zoo animals, which will be available from the beginning of 2003. Entitled Zoo Animal Nutrition Tables and Guidelines, the booklets four central themes are: nutritional targets for exotic animals; composition of commercially available feedstuffs; practical feeding tips and advise on the husbandry of the various species included.
For more information, please contact the European Zoo Nutrition Centre: info@eznc.org, www.eznc.org .