Health and Nutritional Status of a Perturbed Black-Necked Swan (Cygnus melanocoryphus) Population: Diet Quality

The Cayumapu River's black-necked swan population in southern Chile lost its main dietary item, Egeria densa, during an environmental crisis which occurred in 2004 in the Carlos Andwanter Nature Sanctuary. The main goal of this study was to test the effect of diet on the physiologic response to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of zoo and wildlife medicine 2009-12, Vol.40 (4), p.607-616
Main Authors: Cecilia Norambuena, M, Bozinovic, Francisco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Albumins
Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
Animals
Animals, Wild
Anseriformes - physiology
Biochemistry
Black-necked swan
Calcium
Chile
Cholesterols
Cygnus melanocoryphus
Diet - veterinary
Ecosystem
Environmental Monitoring
Fasting
hematology
iron homeostasis
Lakes
Male
Malnutrition
Nutritional Status
Research s
Review Articles
Swans
Waterfowl
Zoos
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Summary:The Cayumapu River's black-necked swan population in southern Chile lost its main dietary item, Egeria densa, during an environmental crisis which occurred in 2004 in the Carlos Andwanter Nature Sanctuary. The main goal of this study was to test the effect of diet on the physiologic response to this new ecologic challenge. The results revealed that the new diet of this population was composed primarily of roots and sedimentary microalgae, with chemical and energetic content similar to the diet of the control population. Nevertheless, the mean body mass of the Cayumapu River swans was 25% lower than that of control birds. In addition, the biochemical and hematologic profiles of the study population were indicative of malnutrition and a hyperferremic, hyperphosphatemic, and lymphopenic condition. Liver enzyme activities did not support that the malnutrition was a secondary consequence of liver dysfunction, as is expected under hemochromatosis or environmental toxics exposure.
ISSN:1042-7260
1937-2825
DOI:10.1638/2007-0158.1