Intake and digestibility studies with captive African lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus) and cheetahs ( Acinonyx jubatus)

[摘要] English: The long-term goal of this study of the quantitative nutrition of large African predators was todevelop non-invasive techniques for the accurate determination of food intake and apparentnutrient digestibility by free-ranging predators.The specific objectives of this study were to:•develop non-invasive techniques to determine the apparent digestibility of fresh, nonprocessed food by three species of large African predators.•determine the apparent dry matter (DM) digestibility of typical carnivorous diets in terms of DM, crude protein (CP), minerals, fat and gross energy (GE).•obtain information on the digestive capabilities and the water retention in three species of large African predators.•lay the basis for developing a technique to determine the food intake on a nutrient basis by free-ranging large African predators.This study was conducted in the Bloemfontein Zoological Gardens (Bloemfontein Zoo) withpaired captive male and female African lions (Panthera leo), leopards (Panthera pardus) andcheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). Although the study was done with captive animals thetechniques were developed in such a manner that its principles would be applicable in theuncontrolled environment of free-ranging predators. The study consisted complete intake anddigestibility trials conducted and repeated three times respectively 'on a male and a female ofeach of the three predator species.The trial diets consisted of portions' of the limbs from either adult donkeys (Equus asinus) or ahorse (Equus cabal/us). The trial carcass portions used consisted of two symmetrical andidentical portions or cuts that were divided in different sections, e.g. the two front limbs or thetwo hind limbs originating from the same carcass. One carcass portion was fed to a specificpredator as the trial diet and the mirror image carcass portion was retained for nutrientanalysis in the laboratory. The trail diets were marked using maize seeds (Zea mays) asexternal marker to assist in the faecal identification and facilitate collection. After feeding aration, total faecal and food refusal collections were made.The intake and apparent digestibility of the fresh food, DM and nutrients were determinedusing standard laboratory techniques. The results of the intake and digestibility trials with theAfrican lion, the leopard and the cheetah have shown that these carnivores are well adaptedfor the ingestion and digestion of meat.Mean DM intakes ranged from 0.970 kg for a female leopard to 4.493 kg for a male lion. Themean apparent DM digestibility ranged from 0.854 to 0.957. Nutrients such as CP, lipid andGE had very high apparent digestibility coefficients by the predators ranging from 0.919 to0.977 for CP, 0.983 to 0.995 for lipid and 0.918 to 0.967 for GE respectively. The apparentdigestibility of minerals (ash) was lower ranging from 0.310 to 0.853.From this analysis the conclusion could be made that there is no statistical difference betweenthe lions, leopards and cheetahs in this study in terms of the apparent digestibility of freshfood, dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), lipids, minerals and gross energy (GE). This studyalso confirmed that large African predators obtain a considerable amount of water from theirdiets.The use of apparent digestibility coefficients for fresh food and DM can be a very usefulmethod to estimate the actual food intake (on a fresh or DM basis) of carnivores. If theinformation is available and the techniques described are applied judiciously, it might bepossible to estimate the food and nutrient intake of large African predators. Evaluation of thenutritional status of large African predators during the different physiological stages of their lives in a non-invasive manner will thus be possible. It will also provide scientific support todevise adequate, sustainable and holistic management practices to preserve both the largeAfrican carnivores and the environment that supports their existence.

[发布机构] University of the Free State