Changes in Environment and Management Practices Improve Foot Health in Zoo-Housed Flamingos
<p>Classification of flamingo foot lesions according to Nielsen et al. [<a href="#B20-animals-13-02483" class="html-bibr">20</a>]. From left: (<b>a</b>) hyperkeratosis, (<b>b</b>) fissures, (<b>c</b>) nodular lesions, (<b>d</b>) papillomatous growths. Photos: Paul Rose (<b>a</b>,<b>c</b>) and Andrew Mooney (<b>b</b>,<b>d</b>).</p> "> Figure 2
<p>The Chilean Flamingo habitat at Dublin Zoo. This includes a 1350 m<sup>2</sup> outdoor aviary, comprising a land mass and a shallow lake surrounded by natural vegetation (<b>a</b>). The indoor habitat comprises two connected rooms. The first room is 47 m<sup>2</sup> and consists of a completely textured rubber floor (<b>b</b>). This is connected to a second 60 m<sup>2</sup> room which has a pebble and sand substrate, and mesh walls which are open to the outside air (<b>c</b>). Photos: Andrew Mooney.</p> "> Figure 3
<p>The total foot scores for 97 Chilean Flamingos at Dublin Zoo at three time points (A = 6 May 2021, B = 16 April 2022, and C = 9 November 2022). These scores reflect the scoring metric developed by Nielsen et al. [<a href="#B20-animals-13-02483" class="html-bibr">20</a>] and include the four types of common flamingo foot lesion (hyperkeratosis, fissures, nodular lesions, and papillomatous growths). Pink boxes denote interquartile ranges (25th to 75th percentiles), central horizontal lines denote median values (50th percentile), and black whiskers denote 5th and 95th percentiles. Solid black dots denote outliers, and shaded black dots show the distribution of the data. <span class="html-italic">p</span> ≤ 0.0001 for all pairwise comparisons (****).</p> "> Figure 4
<p>The foot scores for the 42 female and 55 male Chilean Flamingos at Dublin Zoo at three time points (A = 6 May 2021, B = 16 April 2022, and C = 9 November 2022). These scores reflect the scoring metric developed by Nielsen et al. [<a href="#B20-animals-13-02483" class="html-bibr">20</a>] and include the four types of common flamingo foot lesion (hyperkeratosis, fissures, nodular lesions, and papillomatous growths). All comparisons between males and females at each time point (A, B, and C) are non-significant (ns). Pink and blue boxes denote interquartile ranges (25th to 75th percentiles), central horizontal lines denote median values (50th percentiles), and black whiskers denote 5th and 95th percentiles. Solid black dots denote outliers, and shaded black dots show the distribution of the data.</p> "> Figure 5
<p>The relationship between age and the change in overall foot lesion score observed (delta; Δ) per flamingo between Time Points B (16 April 2022) and C (9 November 2022) (<span class="html-italic">n</span> = 97). Here, a reduction in foot score reflects an improvement in individual flamingo foot health. Foot scores reflect the scoring metric developed by Nielsen et al. [<a href="#B20-animals-13-02483" class="html-bibr">20</a>] and include the four types of common flamingo foot lesion (hyperkeratosis, fissures, nodular lesions, and papillomatous growths). The solid pink line represents a linear regression line, the shaded pink areas around the line represent 95% confidence intervals, and solid pink dots show the distribution of the data.</p> "> Figure 6
<p>Correlations between sex, age, and the severity of each individual lesion type (H = hyperkeratosis, F = fissures, NL = nodular lesions, and PG = papillomatous growths) for Time Points A (6 May 2021), B (16 April 2022), and C (9 November 2022). (<span class="html-italic">n</span> = 97 each). Correlation measures reflect Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Scores for each lesion type reflect the scoring metric developed by Nielsen et al. [<a href="#B20-animals-13-02483" class="html-bibr">20</a>]. Significance values: <span class="html-italic">p</span> < 0.001 (***), <span class="html-italic">p</span> < 0.01 (**), and <span class="html-italic">p</span> < 0.05 (*).</p> ">
Abstract
:Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Flamingo Management at Dublin Zoo
2.2. Flamingo Foot Scoring
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Foot Lesion Prevelance and Severity
3.2. Response to Changes in Management and Environmental Conditions
3.3. Age and Sex
3.4. Inter-Evaluator Reliability
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Prevalence | |||
---|---|---|---|
A | B | C | |
Foot Lesions (overall) | 99.0% (96/97) | 100% (97/97) | 59.8% (58/97) |
- Hyperkeratosis | 99.0% (96/97) | 93.8% (91/97) | 53.6% (52/97) |
- Fissures | 58.8% (57/97) | 70.1% (68/97) | 12.4% (12/97) |
- Nodular Lesions | 4.1% (4/97) | 0% (0/97) | 1.0% (1/97) |
- Papillomatous Growths | 89.7% (87/97) | 100% (97/97) | 22.7% (22/97) |
Mean (±SD) Foot Score | |||
A | B | C | |
Foot Lesions (overall) | 8.60 (3.83) | 13.75 (6.81) | 1.78 (2.54) |
- Hyperkeratosis | 3.40 (1.93) | 2.73 (1.78) | 1.05 (1.39) |
- Fissures | 1.06 (1.20) | 2.24 (2.61) | 0.19 (0.63) |
- Nodular Lesions | 0.05 (0.27) | 0 | 0.02 (0.20) |
- Papillomatous Growths | 4.08 (2.84) | 8.68 (4.86) | 0.53 (1.40) |
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Mooney, A.; McCall, K.; Bastow, S.; Rose, P. Changes in Environment and Management Practices Improve Foot Health in Zoo-Housed Flamingos. Animals 2023, 13, 2483. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13152483
Mooney A, McCall K, Bastow S, Rose P. Changes in Environment and Management Practices Improve Foot Health in Zoo-Housed Flamingos. Animals. 2023; 13(15):2483. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13152483
Chicago/Turabian StyleMooney, Andrew, Kelly McCall, Scott Bastow, and Paul Rose. 2023. "Changes in Environment and Management Practices Improve Foot Health in Zoo-Housed Flamingos" Animals 13, no. 15: 2483. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13152483