Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T17:27:17.169Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

13 - Nutrition of Lorisiformes

from Part II - Ecology and Captive Management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2020

K. A. I. Nekaris
Affiliation:
Oxford Brookes University
Anne M. Burrows
Affiliation:
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh
Get access

Summary

For many wild animals under human care, detailed nutritional requirements are not yet established. In these cases, we must use the existing knowledge of domestic species as models. The nearest model to lorisiforms is the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus, which is not a domestic species but has been used in laboratories since the 1970s and its nutritional requirements have been well described (NRC, 2003). Unfortunately, the marmoset is not a perfect model because of its differing basal metabolic rates (Ross, 1992), high vitamin D requirements (Abbott et al., 2003) and differing proportions of food items within its natural diets (Cabana et al., 2018b). Therefore, many parameters must be estimated based on the wild loris’ feeding ecology and feeding trials under human care (Baer et al., 2010). The stakes are much higher today, since we know that diets are not only responsible for supplying optimal concentrations of nutritional components, but also for supporting the animal’s welfare through appropriate food presentation methods (Scott et al., 1999). Providing more natural diets may help in doing the latter, but it does not guarantee a balanced diet. Even a diet consisting entirely of insects is not necessarily nutritionally appropriate for insectivorous animals as the insects commonly fed in captivity such as mealworms and crickets lack many micronutrients (Finke, 2013).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×