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Background: Koalas, an Australian arboreal marsupial, depend on eucalypt tree leaves for their diet. They selectively consume only a few of the hundreds of available eucalypt species. Since the koala gut microbiome is essential for the digestion and detoxification of eucalypts, their individual differences in the gut microbiome may lead to variations in their eucalypt selection and eucalypt metabolic capacity. However, research focusing on the relationship between the gut microbiome and differences in food preferences is very limited. We aimed to determine whether individual and regional differences exist in the gut microbiome of koalas as well as the mechanism by which these differences influence eucalypt selection. Methods: Foraging data were collected from six koalas and a total of 62 feces were collected from 15 koalas of two zoos in Japan. The mitochondrial phylogenetic analysis was conducted to estimate the mitochondrial maternal origin of each koala. In addition, the 16S-based gut microbiome of 15 koalas was analyzed to determine the composition and diversity of each koala's gut microbiome. We used these data to investigate the relationship among mitochondrial maternal origin, gut microbiome and eucalypt diet selection. Results and Discussion: This research revealed that diversity and composition of the gut microbiome and that eucalypt diet selection of koalas differs among regions. We also revealed that the gut microbiome alpha diversity was correlated with foraging diversity in koalas. These individual and regional differences would result from vertical (maternal) transmission of the gut microbiome and represent an intraspecific variation in koala foraging strategies. Further, we demonstrated that certain gut bacteria were strongly correlated with both mitochondrial maternal origin and eucalypt foraging patterns. Bacteria found to be associated with mitochondrial maternal origin included bacteria involved in fiber digestion and degradation of secondary metabolites, such as the families Rikenellaceae and Synergistaceae. These bacteria may cause differences in metabolic capacity between individual and regional koalas and influence their eucalypt selection. Conclusion: We showed that the characteristics (composition and diversity) of the gut microbiome and eucalypt diet selection of koalas differ by individuals and regional origins as we expected. In addition, some gut bacteria that could influence eucalypt foraging of koalas showed the relationships with both mitochondrial maternal origin and eucalypt foraging pattern. These differences in the gut microbiome between regional origins may make a difference in eucalypt selection. Given the importance of the gut microbiome to koalas foraging on eucalypts and their strong symbiotic relationship, future studies should focus on the symbiotic relationship and coevolution between koalas and the gut microbiome to understand individual and regional differences in eucalypt diet selection by koalas.

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The present case describes multiple hepatic lipomas in a common hill mynah (Gracula religiosa). A 21-year-old female captive common hill mynah died without any notable clinical symptoms. An autopsy and histopathological examinations were conducted to determine the exact cause of death. On gross observation, the liver demonstrated a yellowish white surface color and multiple nodules indicating neoplastic lesions. Histopathological assessment found that the nodules purely comprised mature adipocytes. Furthermore, the liver exhibited an excessive accumulation of iron in hepatocytes and Kupffer cells and the infiltration of chronic inflammatory cells, suggesting iron storage disease (ISD). Based on the results, the present case was diagnosed as multiple hepatic lipomas with ISD. To the authors' best knowledge, multiple hepatic lipomas accompanying ISD lesions have not been reported previously. Hence, the present case is the first case report of hepatic multiple lipomas with ISD in veterinary medicine.

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Domestic quail are used as both farm and laboratory animals. As the wild ancestor of quails is "endangered," field studies are needed to conserve them. If wild-derived strains of quail are established, they will be unique genetic resources for both farm and laboratory animals. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a field study and create wild-derived quail strains using the breeding stocks in Tokachi, Hokkaido, Japan. Field observations from 2019 to 2022 indicate that wild quails migrate and stay at reproductive sites from late April to late October. Our estimations of the approximate ages of the observed and captured quails imply that adult males have intermittent reproductive opportunities from May to August. Morphological traits collected from adult and juvenile quails in the 2019-2022 population were similar to those previously reported for Japan's 1914 and 1970 populations. Using natural mating of captured wild males and domestic (Dom) females, we established the W50 and W75 strains, which possessed 50% and 75% genetic contributions from the wild stocks. These unique genetic resources can be applied for future conservation and experimental use to understand the domestication history and genetic basis of quantitative traits.

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The length of stay for some animals has increased with the recent reduction of animals euthanized in US shelters and animal control facilities. Research examining the effectiveness of different types of enrichment on buffering the effects of acute daily stressors in the shelter environment, such as kennel cleaning, is lacking. In addition, daily known stressors can result in undesirable behaviors that could lead to a need for euthanasia. Ways to effectively reduce the effects of daily stressors while optimizing strained resources is currently a high priority. In this study, we presented shelter dogs with food, tactile, and scent enrichment items to increase (arousing) or decrease (calming) activity during the daily stressor of morning kennel cleaning. We found that calming, rather than arousing, enrichment items were associated with body position scores indicative of lower stress in dogs, with calming scent enrichment (lavender) producing the most significant benefit. In contrast, items that showed the greatest reduction in vocalization were arousing (ball) compared to other arousing conditions. Our findings suggest that different unwanted behaviors in the kennel environment often associated with stress can be reduced using specific types of enrichment during a daily stressful event. Further, the results illustrate that enrichment items other than food might be more effective at decreasing certain undesirable behaviors. Overall, this study provides insight into how shelter workers might effectively use enrichment items during an unavoidable acute stressor. With many shelters keeping dogs longer, addressing events that might cause repeated stress in this population may indirectly help with adopting and lowering euthanasia rates due to unwanted behavior that develops due to repeated exposure to this necessary but acute stressor of morning cleaning.

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The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is an endangered species that continues to experience population decline. Understanding the behavior of this species is a critical step in the conservation efforts to prevent their extinction. A comprehensive activity budget of this species has yet to be conducted in any captive population, which are critical for the Species Survival Plan (SSP) breeding programs. We performed scan sampling observations on a group of 19 penguins to construct an activity budget. We also investigated the behavioral differences between males and females, as well as between adults and juveniles. Results indicate there are minimal sex differences in time budget allocations, but there are some notable age related differences. Creating and comparing activity budgets between populations are critical for understanding animal welfare in captive settings.

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This study investigated the behaviour of two Elasmobranch species; Southern fiddler ray (Trygonorrhina dumerilii, n = 1) and Port Jackson shark (Heterodontus portusjacksoni, n = 4) and two teleost species; moonlighter (Tilodon sexfasciatus, n = 1) and banded morwong (Cheilodactylus spectabilis, n = 1) living within a single enclosure. For this study, two treatments were compared, the original enclosure design, and then after the enclosure had been renovated to more closely represent the species natural habitats, with a raised front viewing glass to prevent visitor interaction. Behaviours such as resting, swimming and abnormal behaviours such as surface and perimeter swimming (elasmobranchs only) were recorded as well as location within the enclosure, for 10 days pre and 10 days post renovation. The Port Jackson sharks significantly reduced the performance of abnormal behaviours after renovation, and significantly increased the time spent near the exhibit front. The Southern fiddler ray increased resting post renovation, while the teleost species also spent more time near the exhibit front. Although a small sample size was used, the results suggest that a more naturalistic environment with multiple micro-habitats and effective visitor barriers allows for a greater proportion of the day spent exhibiting natural behaviours, greater space use and reduced stereotypes.

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The study of human-animal interactions has provided insights into the welfare of many species. To date, however, research has largely focused on human relationships with captive mammals, with relatively little exploration of interactions between humans and other vertebrates, despite non-mammals constituting the vast majority of animals currently living under human management. With this study, we aimed to address this gap in knowledge by investigating human-fish interactions at a community garden/aquaponics learning-center that is home to approximately 150 goldfish (Carassius auratus) and seven adult and two juvenile koi (Cyprinus rubrofuscus). After a habituation period (July-September 2019) during which time the fish were regularly provided with the opportunity to engage with the researcher's submerged hand, but were not forced to interact with the researcher, we collected video data on 10 non-consecutive study days during the month of October. This procedure produced 18~20-min interaction sessions, 10 during T1 (when the experimenter first arrived and the fish had not been fed) and eight during T2 (20-30 min after the fish had been fed to satiation; two sessions of which were lost due equipment malfunction). Interactions between the researcher and the seven adult koi were coded from video based on location (within reach, on the periphery, or out of reach from the researcher) and instances of physical, tactile interaction. Analyses revealed that overall, koi spent more time than expected within reach of the researcher during both T1 (p < 0.02) and T2 (p < 0.03). There were also substantial differences between individuals' overall propensity for being within-reach and engaging in physical interaction. These results show that koi will voluntarily interact with humans and that individual koi display unique and consistent patterns of interaction. By providing quantitative data to support anecdotal claims that such relationships exist around the world, this research contributes to the ongoing discoveries highlighting the profound dissonance between how humans think about and treat fish and who fish actually are, thereby emphasizing the necessity of stronger moral and legal protections for fishes.

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With the advent of more comprehensive research into the microbiome and interactions between animals and their microbiota, new solutions can be applied to address conservation challenges such as husbandry and medical care of captive animals. Although studies on epizoic algae are relatively rare, and the function and role of those mainly photosynthetic organisms in the animal microbiome is not well understood, recent surveys on epizoic diatoms show that some of them exhibit traits of obligate epibionts. This study explores diatom communities on captive-born manatees from the Africarium in Wroclaw, Poland. Light and scanning electron microscopy analyses revealed that skin of all animals sampled was dominated by apochlorotic Tursiocola cf. ziemanii, an epizoic species described recently from Florida manatees, that reached 99,9% of the total diatom abundance. Despite using media with a wide range of salinity (0-34), the isolated Tursiocola cells did not grow, whereas the normally pigmented Planothidium sp., that was only occasionally found on the animal substratum, survived in all culture media tested. Our observations provide direct evidence that manatee-associated Tursiocola endure the dramatic salinity changes that occur regularly during their host life cycle, and can thrive in an artificial captive setting, if the manatee substratum is available. The impact of practices and routines used by the Africarium on manatee-associated diatoms, as well as ultrastructure of areolae in Tursiocola, are briefly discussed.

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BACKGROUND: The long-term success of ex-situ conservation programmes depends on species-appropriate husbandry and enrichment practices complemented by an accurate welfare assessment protocol. Zoos and conservation breeding programmes should employ a bottom-up approach to account for intraspecific variations in measures of animal welfare. We studied 35 (14:21) captive Asiatic lions in Sakkarbaug Zoological Garden, Junagadh, India to understand the implications of individual variations on welfare measures. We categorized the subjects based on personality traits (bold or shy), rearing history (wild-rescued or captive-raised), sex, and social-grouping. We explored the association of these categorical variables on welfare indices such as behavioural diversity, latency to approach novel objects, enclosure usage and aberrant repetitive behaviours. Further, we assessed the inter-relationships between different behavioural measures of welfare. RESULTS: Our results show that intraspecific variations based on rearing-history and personality traits are significantly associated with the welfare states of captive Asiatic lions. Asiatic lions with bold personality traits (M = 0.50, SD = 0.12, N = 21) and those raised in captivity (M = 0.47, SD = 0.12, N = 16) used enclosure space more homogenously compared to shy (M = 0.71, SD = 0.15, N = 14) and wild-rescued (M = 0.67, SD = 0.15, N = 19) animals. Behaviour diversity was significantly higher in captive-raised (M = 1.26, SD = 0.3, N = 16) and bold (M = 1.23, SD = 0.26, N = 21) subjects compared to wild-rescued (M = 0.83, SD = 0.35, N = 19) and shy (M = 0.73, SD = 0.34, N = 14) individuals. Aberrant repetitive behaviours (stereotypy) were significantly lower in bold (M = 7.01, SD = 4, N = 21) and captive-raised (M = 7.74, SD = 5.3) individuals compared to wild-rescued (M = 13.12, SD = 6.25, N = 19) and shy (M = 16.13, SD = 5.4, N = 16) lions. Sex and social-grouping of subjects did not show significant associations with behavioural welfare indices. Interestingly, behaviour diversity was reliably predicted by the enclosure usage patterns and aberrant repetitive behaviours displayed by subjects. DISCUSSION: Our findings underline the importance of individual-centric, behaviour-based, and multi-dimensional welfare assessment approaches in ex-situ conservation programmes. The results suggest that behavioural welfare indices complemented with individual variations can explain inter-individual differences in behavioural welfare measure outcomes of Asiatic lions. These findings also provide zoo managers with a non-invasive tool to reliably assess and improve husbandry practices for Asiatic lions. Understanding the unique welfare requirement of individuals in captivity will be crucial for the survival of the species.

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Integrating multifactor blood analysis is a key step toward a precise diagnosis of the health status of marine mammals. Variations in the circulating lipid profile reflect changes in the metabolism and physiology of an individual. To demonstrate the practicability of lipid profiling for physiological assessment, the phosphorylcholine-containing lipids in the plasma of long-term managed beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) were profiled using a lipidomics methodology. Using a multivariate analysis, the mean corpuscular volume, cholesterol, potassium, and γ-glutamyltranspeptidase levels were well modeled with the lipid profile of the female whales. In the models, the correlated lipids provided information about blood parameter-related metabolism and physiological regulation, in particular relating to cholesterol and inflammation. In the males, the levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, plasma iron, and segmented neutrophil were well modeled with the lipid profile. In addition to providing information about the related metabolism and regulation, through a cross-linked analysis of the blood parameters, the correlated lipids indicated a parallel regulation involved in the energy metabolism of the male whales. Lipidomics as a method for revealing the context of physiological change shows practical potential for the health care of managed whales.

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O cativeiro pode ter implicações significativas no padrão comportamental de um animal. As técnicas de enriquecimento ambiental podem melhorar a qualidade de vida dos animais cativos pelo fornecimento de itens que estimulam a exibição de comportamentos naturais e redução dos anormais. Técnicas de enriquecimento ambiental foram aplicadas em um exemplar de Guaxinim (Procyon cancrivorus), mantido no Zoológico Municipal Parque Jacarandá de Uberaba-MG, com o intuito promover o bem-estar do animal. Para a observação comportamental, foi adotado o método Animal Focal com intervalo, antes e durante o enriquecimento. As técnicas escolhidas de enriquecimento ambiental foram: ambiental, alimentar e sensorial. Os resultados mostraram mudanças no repertório comportamental quando comparadas as duas etapas do trabalho. As técnicas de enriquecimento ambiental mostraram-se adequadas na exibição de comportamentos típicos da espécie, sinalizando a redução de estresse e aumento de qualidade de vida deste exemplar mantido em cativeiro. A utilização do enriquecimento ambiental também contribuiu no aumento de interesse dos visitantes em relação à espécie.

The captivity may have significant implications on the behavior of an animal. The environmental enrichment techniques can improve the quality of life of captive animals by providing items that stimulate the display of natural behaviors and reducing abnormal ones. Environmental enrichment techniques were applied to a captive individual of crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus), kept in the Zoológico Municipal Parque Jacarandá Uberaba-MG, in order to promote the animal welfare. We adopted the focal sampling method with interval, before and during the application of enrichment techniques. The environmental enrichment techniques used were: environmental, food and sensory. The results showed changes on the behavioral repertoire if compared the two stages of work. The environmental enrichment techniques have proved to be adequate on the promotion of species typical behaviors, indicating the reduction of stress and the increase of quality of life of this specimen kept in captivity. The use of environmental enrichment also contributed to the increasing interest of visitors in relation to species.

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Many species of flamingo are endangered in the wild but common in zoos, where successful captive breeding programs are a management priority. Unlike their counterparts in the wild, captive flamingo individuals are easy to mark and follow, facilitating longitudinal data collection on social dynamics that may affect reproduction. We studied a captive group of American Flamingos at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, LA to document patterns of aggression between individuals during the onset of breeding. We used a social network approach to test whether overall aggression would be higher during courtship or following establishment of pair bonds. Aggression was higher following pair bond establishment than during courtship, suggesting that individuals in our study population may compete more intensely for resources such as nesting sites than for mates. We also found that males were more aggressive than females during all stages of the study period and that there was a positive relationship between age and aggression in males during the pair-bond stage. We discuss these findings in light of management practices for captive populations of flamingos and general patterns of aggression in social animals.

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