Elephants Elephants - Wildpro - Twycross Zoo

Table V. SUMMARY OF DIET COMPOSITION OF UK ELEPHANTS
Nutrient Recorded range
in diets (DM)
Mean Standard
Deviation
Ash % 6.8 – 8.99 8.3 0.6 -
Fibre % -
Crude Fibre 16.03 – 33.01 28.6 4.5 -
ADF 18.89 – 40.24 33.6 5.5 48
NDF 49.33 – 70.8 60.4 7.0 62
Lignin 2.21 – 6.46 5.3 1.0 15
Crude Protein % 10.61 – 14.51 13.6 1.1 8-10
Crude Fat % 0.21 – 1.48 0.7 0.5 1.2-1.8
Recommended level
Vitamin E mg/kg 5.44 – 212.63 60.3 64.9 130-167 IU/kg
Calcium % 0.23 – 0.86 0.5 0.1 0.3
Phosphorus % 0.14 – 0.42 0.3 0.05 0.2
Sodium % 0.12 – 1.0 0.3 0.2 0.2
Iron mg/kg 0.23 – 42.93 12.2 10.7 50
Zinc mg/kg 0.1 – 20.97 5.8 4.7 -
*Vitamin E : 1 IU is roughly equivalent to 1 mg
Water
In the wild, elephants drink throughout the day, preferring to drink from
flowing rather than still water. Daily intake of an adult wild elephant is
estimated to be between 130 and 230 litres (Roocroft and Zoll 1994).
The study requested information on water provision for elephants in Britain
and Ireland. Fourteen of the fifteen collections responding to this section
provided water ad libitum to their elephants. Only one collection provided
water from a controlled source. Eight of the collections provided warmed
water in the winter, (and see Section 3.3.2 for captive environment
recommendations.)
Browse
Twelve out of fifteen collections provide browse regularly. The remaining
three collections provide browse sporadically depending on supply. The
browse component was not included in the analysis of the diets since few
collections provided us with information on the species fed, (but see
Appendix 6). Although Zootrition does not contain nutrient values for UK
samples, temperate browse is expected to be of similar composition globally.
Until further analysis has been conducted it may be possible to compare
values, using German, US and Zimbabwe browses in the Zootrition database,
if plant species are known.
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