Nutrition as an integral part of behavioural management of zoo animals

Abstract

Provision of optimal diets for wild animals in captivity can have beneficial effects on health, reproductive performance and welfare. Zoo animal nutrition has made significant advances over the past decades; however adequate diet provision in zoological institutions remains challenging. This paper proposes a schematic history of developments in zoo animal nutrition in four steps, from finding diet items an animal will readily accept to secure its immediate survival (step 1), to supplementing these diet items with essential nutrients l Show more