Grading fecal consistency in an omnivorous carnivore, the brown bear: Abandoning the concept of uniform feces

De Cuyper, Annelies; Clauss, Marcus; Lens, Luc; Strubbe, Diederik; Zedrosser, Andreas; Steyaert, Sam; Saravia, Arturo Muñoz; Janssens, Geert P J

doi:10.1002/zoo.21593

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De Cuyper, A., Clauss, M., Lens, L., Strubbe, D., Zedrosser, A., Steyaert, S., Saravia, A. M., & Janssens, G. P. J. (2021). Grading fecal consistency in an omnivorous carnivore, the brown bear: Abandoning the concept of uniform feces. Zoo Biology, 40(3), 182–191. https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.21593

Abstract

Grading the fecal consistency of carnivores is a frequently used tool for monitoring gut health and overall digestion. Several fecal consistency grading systems are available for mainly felids and canids. No such system exists for the brown bear (Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758).We aim at extending current fecal consistency grading systems with a scoring system for brown bears. The system was set up during a diet study with nine individuals fed a variety of diets including beef meat, rabbit, fruit, and grass‐fruit‐pellet mix in an incompl