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Cheetahs - Natural Feeding, Oral Health and Psychological Well-Being

Writer's picture: TeamResearchTeamResearch

Updated: May 8, 2020

ARTICLE DATE: July 1990

 

CITATION:

Bond, J. C., & Lindburg, D. G. (1990). Carcass feeding of captive cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus): The effects of a naturalistic feeding program on oral health and psychological well-being. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 26(4), 373–382.



ABSTRACT:

Hypothesized that providing a more naturalistic diet to captive cheetahs would enhance their physical and psychological well-being and result in increased breeding success. Feeding sessions of 5 Ss were videotaped and analyzed. Ss were fed either carcasses or a commercial diet. Ss receiving carcasses fed longer, spent more time smelling their food, chewed their food more, and used their molars to slice the food more often than did Ss fed the commercial diet. Although commercial diets meet the nutritional requirements of captive carnivores, more naturalistic diets may better meet their psychological and nutritional needs by taking into account such factors as diet consistency, texture, temperature, palatability, and variability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)





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This website is a labor of love brought to you by the volunteers at Paws For Change. Our goal is to put together links to published research studies, articles, books, and other media which have influenced our approach to feeding diets that include fresh and raw foods. We encourage everyone to research further to gain a fuller understanding of any controversies or debates involved. It is a growing collection and we welcome you to use the submission form below if you have studies you'd like to suggest be included here.

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