Digestible Energy Intake and Digestive Efficiency of Human-Managed North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis)

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 trans...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Veterinary medicine international 2020, Vol.2020 (2020), p.1-7
Main Authors: Stoskopf, Michael K., Harms, Craig A., Heugten, Kimberly Ange-van, Minter, Larry J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic mammals
Catfish
Diet
Dogs
Energy
Energy intake
Feces
Females
Fish diets
Fishes
Food
Fruits
Institutions
Lontra canadensis
Nutrition research
Otters
Protein sources
Proteins
Reptiles & amphibians
Rivers
Salmon
Tilapia
Vegetables
Veterinary medicine
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Summary: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.
ISSN:2090-8113
2042-0048
2042-0048
DOI:10.1155/2020/4307456