Survey and comparison of major intestinal flora in captive and wild ring‐tailed lemur (Lemur catta) populations

Abstract

A survey to identify the major intestinal species of aerobic bacteria, protozoa and helminths was conducted on captive and wild populations of ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Samples were collected from 50 captive lemurs at 11 zoological institutions in the United States. In Madagascar, 98 aerobic bacteria samples and 99 parasite samples were collected from eight sites chosen to cover a variety of populations across the species range. Identical collection, preservation and lab techniques were used for captive and wild populations. The predominant types of aerobic bacteria flora were identified via five separate tests. The tests for parasites conducted included flotation, sedimentation and FA/GC. Twenty-seven bacteria unique to either the captive or wild populations were cultured with eight of these being statistically significantly different. Fourteen bacteria common to both populations were cultured, of which six differed significantly. Entamoeba coli was the only parasite common to both the captive and wild populations. Giardia spp., Isospora spp., strongyles-type ova, Entamoeba spp. and Entamoeba polecki were found only in captive samples. Cryptosporidium, Balantidium coli, pinworm-type ova, and two fluke-like ova were seen only in wild samples. In addition, samples were compared for both bacteria and parasites from three unique field sites in Madagascar. In this three-site comparison, six types of bacteria were statistically significantly different. No significant differences regarding parasites were seen. Significant differences were found between the captive and wild populations, whereas fewer differences were found between sites within Madagascar. Although we isolated Campylobacter and Giardia, all animals appeared clinically healthy.

Larval exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl 126 (PCB‐126) causes persistent alteration of the amphibian gut microbiota

“…Altered gut immunity may allow for opportunistic microbes to colonize the guts of toxin-exposed animals, thus increasing species richness and altering microbial community structure. First, the gut microbiota can vary between animals in both nature and captivity [34][35][36]; thus, it would be interesting to see whether differences similar to the present study are also found between pristine and contaminated sites in the wild. Similarly, the genus Fusobacterium comprised a significant proportion of the microbial community of PCB-treated frogs, but not any other group studied.…”

Parasitic infections detected by FLOTAC in zoo mammals from Warsaw, Poland

“…A study carried out in a zoo in Kenya on gastrointestinal parasites in primates obtained higher prevalence of helminthes (64.4%) compared to protozoa (17.1%), while another research conducted in the Zoological Gardens of Belgium on captive primates, found a higher prevalence of nematodes (36.5%) (Goossens et al 2005;Munene et al 1998). The clear differences are probably due to different types of management and housing, to the periods in which the studies were carried out but also to the use of different diagnostic techniques, as test properties vary significantly, particularly the sensitivity (Villers et al 2008). A study on ruminants at the Dublin zoo (Ireland) found a prevalence of positive animals to gastrointestinal nematodes and in particular to Trichuris spp.…”

Diet and phylogeny shape the gut microbiota of Antarctic seals: a comparison of wild and captive animals

“…Conspecific hosts have been shown to display dissimilarities when sampled from captive and wild environments (e.g. Uenishi et al ., ; Scupham et al ., ; Villers et al ., ; Xenoulis et al ., ; Nakamura et al ., ), although this has rarely been demonstrated in mammals, and this is the first study to identify this difference in marine seals. Dietary items can drive differences in the gut microbiota through the introduction of OTUs associated with prey.…”

“…Ley and colleagues () in their study on numerous terrestrial mammals, concluded that bacterial composition in the gut was generally more similar among conspecific hosts than among hosts of different species, regardless of whether they were from a captive or wild environment. A few studies have observed considerable differences between wild and captive individuals, but among mammals, these have been limited to primate species (Uenishi et al ., ; Villers et al ., ; Nakamura et al ., ), while several other studies have investigated such questions in birds (Scupham et al ., ; Xenoulis et al ., ; Wienemann et al ., ) and fish (Dhanasiri et al ., ).…”