NUTRITION GUIDELINES for CROWNED LEMURS (Eulemur coronatus ) 1,4 – 1,8 Kg RED-BELLIED LEMURS (Eulemur rubriventer ) 1,7 - 2,0 Kg SCLATER'S BLACK LEMURS (Eulemur macaco flavifrons ) 1,9 – 2,6 Kg Edited by David GOMIS Contributors : Pierre MOISSON and Sara DE MICHELIS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to animal keepers’ staff from Mulhouse Zoo, for their collaboration to the intake surveys. Especially to Corinne Fromm for the plant database, Claire Prieur, Aline Drouin and Frédéric Seyffarth for the body weight survey, Fanny Huth for the hemosiderosis survey and Caroline Kammerer for the english text reviewing. Thanks to Roland Bulliard (Servion Zoo), Graham Catlow (Edinburgh Zoo), Clare Jenkinson (Banham Zoo), Jana Kálnová (Ostrava Zoo), Alexander Sliwa (Cologne Zoo), Cédric Libert (Montpellier Zoo), William Magnone (Parco Natura Viva), Thierry Petit (La Palmyre Zoo), Frank Rietkerk (Apenheul Primate Park), Claire Saunders (Colchester Zoo), Emma Stanley (Linton Zoo) and Ewa Trzesowska (Poznan Zoo) for providing their datas on Scalter’s black lemurs. Thanks to Christoph Schwitzer (Bristol Zoo) and Sandra Polowinsky (University of Bonn, Institute of Animal Science) for providing their data and expertise on the Sclater’s black lemur ecology in Sahamalaza Reserve and in captivity. Thanks to Andrea L. Fidgett (Chester Zoo), Ellen Dierenfeld (Novus International, Inc.), Joeke Nijboer (Rotterdam Zoo) and Christoph Schwitzer (Bristol Zoo) for their comments and reviewing the document. Thanks to Aline Drouin (Mulhouse Zoo) and Thierry Petit (La Palmyre Zoo) for their photographs. Thanks to the members of the ‘Association Européenne pour l’Etude et la Conservation des Lémuriens’ (AEECL) for promoting field research projects in Madagascar since more than 10 years. Nutrition guidelines for Crowned lemurs, Red-bellied lemurs and Sclater’s black lemurs 2 Gomis D., Moisson P. and De Michelis S. – Mulhouse Zoo, v2. Sept. 2009 Preliminar note: Meeting the nutritional needs of lemurs is essential to assure their survival and their reproduction in captivity. Present guidelines are not formal nutrition recommendations, but a first evaluation -mainly focussed on Sclater’s black lemurs zoo diets- and constitute the major nutrition guidelines we should respect in captive conditions. We hope that you will find in this work some valuable information in order to improve your feeding regimes for Sclater’s black lemurs, Crowned lemurs and Red-bellied lemurs. David Gomis, DVM Note from the Coordinator: As coordinator of these EEPs, I can only stress that nutrition is an essential part for the success of any reproduction/conservation program. You can have all the the ARKS, SPARKS, MedARKS or PM2000 data published with precision, without good food (and of course good social and medical follow up), population management of your species is impossible to perform with positive results. I encourage any holder to be careful of the quality and of the quality of the food thay give to their lemurs, in order to maintain healthy red-bellied, Sclater’s and crowned lemurs in their facilities. And of course thank you to all contributors of these guidelines, especially to David. Pierre Moisson, DVM Red-bellied lemur EEP Coordinator Sclater's black lemur EEP Coordinator Crowned lemur ESB Studbook keeper Nutrition guidelines for Crowned lemurs, Red-bellied lemurs and Sclater’s black lemurs 3 Gomis D., Moisson P. and De Michelis S. – Mulhouse Zoo, v2. Sept. 2009 TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS ADF _______________________________________________________________________Acid detergent fiber AF __________________________________________________________________________________ As fed Al ___________________________________________________________________________________Animal BMR _____________________________________________________________________ Basal metabolic rate BW_____________________________________________________________________________ Body weight CP _____________________________________________________________________________Crude protein (D) DM ___________________________________________________________________ (Dietary) Dry matter DMI _________________________________________________________________________Dry matter intake IU __________________________________________________________________________ International Unit ME ______________________________________________________________________ Metabolisable energy nd ____________________________________________________________________________ Number of days NDF _____________________________________________________________________Neutral detergent fiber ng __________________________________________________________________________ Number of groups ni _______________________________________________________________________Number of individuals NRC _________________________________________________________________ National Research Council ns __________________________________________________________________________ Number of studies NSC ________________________________________________________________ Non structural carbohydrate SD _________________________________________________________________________Standard deviation SE _____________________________________________________________________________ Standard error TDF ________________________________________________________________________ Total dietary fiber Vit. _________________________________________________________________________________ Vitamin Nutrition guidelines for Crowned lemurs, Red-bellied lemurs and Sclater’s black lemurs 4 Gomis D., Moisson P. and De Michelis S. – Mulhouse Zoo, v2. Sept. 2009 CONTENTS page 1- Introduction 7 2- Feeding ecology, gastrointestinal physiology and requirement establishment 8 2.1- Geographic range and habitat 8 2.2- Gastrointestinal physiology of diurnal generalist lemurs 8 2.3- Feeding ecology and requirement establishment 10 2.3.1- Feeding ecology studies 10 2.3.2- Cathemeral activity 10 2.3.3- Nutritional studies 11 2.3.4- Requirement establishment 15 3- Nutritional related problems in captivity 19 3.1- Behavioural problems 19 3.2- Coprophagy 19 3.3- Obesity and reproductive failure 19 3.4- Dental problems 22 3.5- Hepatic iron storage disease (hemochromatosis) 23 3.6- Diabetes mellitus 25 3.7- Renal failure and periarticular hyperostosis 25 4- Practical feeding strategy 26 4.1- How to control the global intake 26 4.2- How to choose fruits and vegetables 29 4.3- How to meet the protein requirement 30 4.4- How to control the mineral & vitamin supplementation 31 4.5- How to control the energy intake 31 4.6- How to manage an overweight lemur 33 Appendixes 35 Appendix 1: Eg. of an intake study for Crowned lemurs at Mulhouse Zoo, France 35 Appendix 2: Eg. of an intake study for Red-bellied lemurs at Mulhouse Zoo, France 36 Appendix 3: Eg. of an intake study for Blue-eyed Black lemurs at Mulhouse Zoo, France 37 Appendix 4: Eg. of the feeding regime for Blue-eyed Black lemurs at Banham Zoo, UK 38 Appendix 5: Eg. of the feeding regime for Blue-eyed Black lemurs at Edinburgh Zoo, UK 40 Appendix 6: Eg. of the feeding regime for Blue-eyed Black lemurs at Montpellier Zoo, France 41 Appendix 7: Eg. of the feeding regime for Blue-eyed Black lemurs at Colchester Zoo, UK 42 Appendix 8: Survey on the BW of captive Blue-eyed Black lemurs in European zoos 43 Appendix 9: Nutrient composition of the pellets used at Mulhouse Zoo, France 45 Appendix 10: List of fruits and vegetables given to Eulemur sp. at Mulhouse Zoo, France 46 Appendix 11: Recipe and composition of the “milk bread mixture” at Mulhouse Zoo, France 47 Appendix 12: Plants’ database for Eulemur sp. at Mulhouse Zoo, France 48 Appendix 13: Proposed requirement ranges for diet formulation and analysis 49 Appendix 14: Some BW records for captive Red-belied lemurs in Mulhouse Zoo 50 Appendix 15: Some BW records for captive Crowned lemurs in Mulhouse Zoo 51 References 52 Summary box 56 Nutrition guidelines for Crowned lemurs, Red-bellied lemurs and Sclater’s black lemurs 5 Gomis D., Moisson P. and De Michelis S. – Mulhouse Zoo, v2. Sept. 2009 Nutrition guidelines for Crowned lemurs, Red-bellied lemurs and Sclater’s black lemurs 6 Gomis D., Moisson P. and De Michelis S. – Mulhouse Zoo, v2. Sept. 2009 1- Introduction: The isolated adaptative radiation of lemurs on Madagascar and their food intake strategy Most lemurs are generalist feeders, omnivorous with fruits or leaves dominating other plant parts, and usually fed in zoos with fruits, vegetables, pellets, seeds, etc. As with many other primates, feeding behaviour in wild conditions differs a lot from captive one: in zoos, animals spend less time feeding, are usually offered large amounts of food in order to reduce conflicts and appear to be more suceptible to obesity (Schaaf et al. , 1983; Pereira et al. , 1995; Schwitzer, 2003). Existing studies of their feeding ecology are often based on a qualitative, more than on a quantitative aspect. Thus, food intake regulation is poorly known. Among primates, the isolated adaptive radiation of lemurs on Madagascar may explain their food intake strategy as an adaptative response to a harsh and unpredictable island environment. The abundance of resources (flowers, seeds, fruits, nectar, insects, etc.) vary significantly from dry to wet season, with irregular, asynchronous or alternate vegetal production cycles. Also frequent cyclones and droughts destroy large proportions of resources, even though the nutrient intake may not vary between seasons (Wright, 1999; Curtis, 2003; Schwitzer, 2003; Schwitzer et al.