Advances in Current and Emerging Diseases Management in Zoological Gardens

A special issue of Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens (ISSN 2673-5636).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 2646

Special Issue Editor

Wildlife Reserves Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Interests: zoo medicine; conservation medicine; animal welfare; zoo biology; animal management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Zoo medicine is a vibrant and important science with a considerable role in the continuous improvement of health, welfare, and husbandry of wild animals under human care. It is a challenging and captivating discipline because of the diversity of the patients and their needs, as well for its necessary holistic approach.

Whether they are considered physical, mental, infectious or non-infectious, metabolic, inherited, degenerative, social or self-inflicted, diseases pose a series of challenges to the zoo community and often necessitate the involvement of all animal professionals: keepers, curators, biologists, ethologists, nutritionists and veterinarians.

Therefore, documenting and studying diseases have always been crucial to professionals in charge of the health and welfare of wild animals under human care.

This Special Issue wishes to celebrate the tremendous contribution of zoo medicine to the continuous improvement of zoo animal management. Original research articles, review articles and short communications on all aspects of current and emerging diseases (aetiology, epidemiology, pathology, diagnosis, treatment, and control) and the resulting improvement in the management of zoo animals are all welcome.

Dr. Guillaume Douay
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • zoo medicine
  • animal welfare
  • animal management
  • diseases
  • husbandry
  • nutrition

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

10 pages, 1325 KiB  
Article
Body Shape Analysis in Reticulated Giraffe, Okapi, and Black Rhinoceros Using Three-Dimensional Laser Measurements
by Nobuhide Kido, Sohei Tanaka, Yuko Wada, Atsushi Oura, Emi Ochiai, Natsumi Morita, Yoshiya Kawaguchi, Masanori Itabashi and Takanori Munakata
J. Zool. Bot. Gard. 2024, 5(1), 80-89; https://doi.org/10.3390/jzbg5010006 - 12 Jan 2024
Viewed by 2083
Abstract
Health management in captive animals is difficult for various unknown reasons presumably related to physiological functions, disease, and diet. Generally, abnormal conditions are diagnosed based on body weight; however, zoos lack appropriate scales for megafauna. Body shape evaluation is often used to evaluate [...] Read more.
Health management in captive animals is difficult for various unknown reasons presumably related to physiological functions, disease, and diet. Generally, abnormal conditions are diagnosed based on body weight; however, zoos lack appropriate scales for megafauna. Body shape evaluation is often used to evaluate the nutritional status of breeding animals; however, this is inaccurate for zoo animals because of inter-observer variability, especially in megafauna. Previously, three-dimensional laser measurements were used to analyse body shape of reticulated giraffe, but further studies are required to examine its effectiveness in more individuals, and other species. Here, we applied this method to seven reticulated giraffe (Giraffa reticulata), five okapi (Okapia johnstoni), and three black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) individuals for which cross-sectional area, width, and height in transverse section were determined. Relative change rates of each variable in relation to measurements at the axillary region revealed changes in body shape for each individual. Further, scatter plots and corresponding fitted curves and correlation coefficients showed a correlation between body length and approximate volume. The accuracy of three-dimensional laser measurements was demonstrated in three animal species, whereby we propose its use as an alternative method to evaluate body shape in megafauna without the inter-observer variability. In addition, this handheld device may be applied for various zoos without the scale for megafauna. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop