Müller Dennis W H, Lackey Laurie Bingaman, Streich W Jürgen, Hatt Jean-Michel, Clauss Marcus
Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets, and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr 260, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Am J Vet Res. 2010 Mar;71(3):275-80. doi: 10.2460/ajvr.71.3.275.
To establish a demographic approach to facilitate the comparison of husbandry success for deer species in zoos and to test for factors that influence the performance of deer species in captivity.
Data collected from 45,736 zoo-kept deer that comprised 31 species.
Data had been collected by the International Species Information System during the last 3 decades on zoo-kept deer around the world. The relative life expectancy (rLE) of a species (ie, mean life expectancy as a proportion of the maximum recorded life span for that species) was used to describe zoo populations. The rLE (values between 0 and 1) was used to reflect the husbandry success of a species.
A significant positive correlation was found between the rLE of a species and the percentage of grass in the natural diet of the species, suggesting that there are more problems in the husbandry of browsing than of grazing species. The 4 species for which a studbook (ie, record of the lineage of wild animals bred in captivity) was maintained had a high rLE, potentially indicating the positive effect of intensive breeding management.
The rLE facilitated the comparison of husbandry success for various species and may offer the possibility of correlating this quotient with other biological variables. Ultimately, identifying reasons for a low husbandry success in certain species may form the basis for further improvements of animal welfare in captivity.
建立一种人口统计学方法，以促进动物园中鹿类物种饲养成功率的比较，并测试影响圈养鹿类物种表现的因素。
从45736只圈养在动物园的鹿收集的数据，这些鹿包含31个物种。
国际物种信息系统在过去30年里收集了世界各地圈养在动物园的鹿的数据。一个物种的相对预期寿命（rLE）（即平均预期寿命占该物种记录的最长寿命的比例）被用来描述动物园中的种群。rLE（值在0到1之间）被用来反映一个物种的饲养成功率。
发现一个物种的rLE与其自然饮食中草的百分比之间存在显著的正相关，这表明食草物种的饲养比食叶物种存在更多问题。有4个物种维持了谱系记录（即圈养繁殖的野生动物的谱系记录），其rLE较高，这可能表明强化繁殖管理的积极作用。
rLE有助于比较不同物种的饲养成功率，并可能提供将该指标与其他生物学变量相关联的可能性。最终，确定某些物种饲养成功率低的原因可能为进一步改善圈养动物福利奠定基础。
