Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs
Abstract Five orphaned European brown bear cubs ( Ursus arctos ) from 3 litters were hand‐reared from the ages of 1–4 months. Body mass initially ranged from 1.7 to 2.8 kg. Growth rates were monitored with reference to diet. Over a period of 3 years, 6 different feed formulas were used. The first 4...
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crwiley:10.1002/zoo.1430120604 2024-09-15T18:40:14+00:00 Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs Huber, Djuro Kulier, Ignac Poljak, Andrea Devčić‐Kuhar, Branka 1993 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/zoo.1430120604 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fzoo.1430120604 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/zoo.1430120604 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Zoo Biology volume 12, issue 6, page 525-533 ISSN 0733-3188 1098-2361 journal-article 1993 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.1430120604 2024-08-13T04:16:49Z Abstract Five orphaned European brown bear cubs ( Ursus arctos ) from 3 litters were hand‐reared from the ages of 1–4 months. Body mass initially ranged from 1.7 to 2.8 kg. Growth rates were monitored with reference to diet. Over a period of 3 years, 6 different feed formulas were used. The first 4 formulas were given with bottles until an average age of 133 days. Conversion to mass in the first 10 months ranged from 3.5 to 32.0 g of food per gram of body mass (or 38.1–192.6 kJ of gross energy/gram body mass), and was affected by type of diet. High fat content increased, whereas high carbohydrate content decreased the conversion rates. Formula 3, with 12.0% protein, 23.9% fat, and only 0.2% carbohydrates, simulated values found in bears' milk and produced the best growth rates. Formula 6 (bread, fruits, and meat) was used from ages 7 to 35 months, and over this period, the efficiency of gross energy conversion decreased gradually, by an eventual factor of 3.8. Hand‐reared cubs ranged from 1.3 to 2.7 times heavier than 17 wild cubs measured at matching ages. Wild mass is probably limited by maternal hibernation, and by the largely herbivorous nature of the diet. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Wiley Online Library Zoo Biology 12 6 525 533 |
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Abstract Five orphaned European brown bear cubs ( Ursus arctos ) from 3 litters were hand‐reared from the ages of 1–4 months. Body mass initially ranged from 1.7 to 2.8 kg. Growth rates were monitored with reference to diet. Over a period of 3 years, 6 different feed formulas were used. The first 4 formulas were given with bottles until an average age of 133 days. Conversion to mass in the first 10 months ranged from 3.5 to 32.0 g of food per gram of body mass (or 38.1–192.6 kJ of gross energy/gram body mass), and was affected by type of diet. High fat content increased, whereas high carbohydrate content decreased the conversion rates. Formula 3, with 12.0% protein, 23.9% fat, and only 0.2% carbohydrates, simulated values found in bears' milk and produced the best growth rates. Formula 6 (bread, fruits, and meat) was used from ages 7 to 35 months, and over this period, the efficiency of gross energy conversion decreased gradually, by an eventual factor of 3.8. Hand‐reared cubs ranged from 1.3 to 2.7 times heavier than 17 wild cubs measured at matching ages. Wild mass is probably limited by maternal hibernation, and by the largely herbivorous nature of the diet. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Huber, Djuro Kulier, Ignac Poljak, Andrea Devčić‐Kuhar, Branka |
spellingShingle |
Huber, Djuro Kulier, Ignac Poljak, Andrea Devčić‐Kuhar, Branka Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs |
author_facet |
Huber, Djuro Kulier, Ignac Poljak, Andrea Devčić‐Kuhar, Branka |
author_sort |
Huber, Djuro |
title |
Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs |
title_short |
Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs |
title_full |
Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs |
title_fullStr |
Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs |
title_sort |
food intake and mass gain of hand‐reared brown bear cubs |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
1993 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/zoo.1430120604 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fzoo.1430120604 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/zoo.1430120604 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
Zoo Biology volume 12, issue 6, page 525-533 ISSN 0733-3188 1098-2361 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/zoo.1430120604 |
container_title |
Zoo Biology |
container_volume |
12 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
525 |
op_container_end_page |
533 |
_version_ |
1810484543353782272 |