Digestive tract pathology of captive giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis). A unifying hypothesis

Captive giraffe (Giraffa Camelopardalis) are affected by four major pathological conditions linked to their nutrition: (1) the so-called “peracute mortality syndrome” with complete absence and serious atrophy of body fat stores, (2) phytobezoars, i.e. Fibrous conglomerates  of plant material, in the omasum and abomasums (3) rumen acidosis or (4) partial loss of dorsal ruminal papillation. […]

Comparative Use of Four Different Marker Systems for the Estimation of Digestibility and Low Food Intake in a Group of Captive Giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis)

In a feeding trial with four captive giraffes, nutrient digestibility was determined using four different marker systems. Although cobalt-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid proved to have no utility as a digestibility marker in this study, reasonable values could be obtained using C36 n-alkane, acid detergent lignin, and acid insoluble ash as markers. A comparison of methods and literature […]