VMD 512: Zoo/Wild Animal Breeding, Management, Nutrition and Health Care (1+1)

WATER

• Watering in case of wild animals has to be given more significance. Generally wild animals prefer water content and even in the wild, wild animals move to the water holes frequently in every day.
• However, it is to be understood that certain species may not take water much like blackbucks. The water requirement may be met by water content of food itself or through the oxidation of organic constituents that produces metabolic water.
• High moisture diets are generally preferred by the wild animals like non-human primates. It is also equally true that high moisture food items are often subjected to the fungal as well as the microbial proliferation.
• Wild ruminants mostly drink water either in the late evening or early morning. Camels have capacity to take more water at a time. Wild animals like felids require the provision of water ad libitum.