Digestible Energy Intake and Digestive Efficiency of Human-Managed North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis)
Joint Authors
Harms, Craig A.
Stoskopf, Michael K.
Minter, Larry J.
Heugten, Kimberly Ange-van
Source
Veterinary Medicine International
Issue
Vol. 2020, Issue 2020 (31 Dec. 2020), pp.1-7, 7 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2020-01-20
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
7
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Diets currently provided to captive North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) are highly variable with different institutions providing various whole foods, commercial complete prepared diets, or combinations of both.
This study investigated the digestible energy intake, gastrointestinal transit time, and digestive efficiency of three different diets being fed at three North Carolina institutions.
Otters housed at Institution A (n = 3) were fed strictly fish.
Otters housed at Institutions B (n = 3) and C (n = 2) were fed a majority fish based diet (58.5 and 74.1%, respectively), supplemented with fruits, vegetables, and supplemental protein sources as enrichment.
There was an apparent trend between increased percentage of fish in the diet and faster transit time and higher digestive efficiency.
As less fish was included in the diets, the GI transit time was longer (Institution A, 106 minutes; Institution B, 145 minutes; Institution C, 208 minutes).
Median digestive efficiency was high for all three groups (A, 91.4%; B, 87.8%; C, 89.8%) but was higher for the institutions feeding fish.
Additionally, the overall median gross energy intake for the eight animals in this study was 163.1 kcal/kgBM0.75/day (range: 92.2 to 260.7 kcal/kgBM0.75/day).
While all three institutions had healthy otter populations, it appears that a higher fish diet should be further studied as the model North American river otter diet.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Minter, Larry J.& Heugten, Kimberly Ange-van& Harms, Craig A.& Stoskopf, Michael K.. 2020. Digestible Energy Intake and Digestive Efficiency of Human-Managed North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis). Veterinary Medicine International،Vol. 2020, no. 2020, pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1214194
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Minter, Larry J.…[et al.]. Digestible Energy Intake and Digestive Efficiency of Human-Managed North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis). Veterinary Medicine International No. 2020 (2020), pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1214194
American Medical Association (AMA)
Minter, Larry J.& Heugten, Kimberly Ange-van& Harms, Craig A.& Stoskopf, Michael K.. Digestible Energy Intake and Digestive Efficiency of Human-Managed North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis). Veterinary Medicine International. 2020. Vol. 2020, no. 2020, pp.1-7.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1214194
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1214194