Long-term monitoring of endoparasites in birds-of-paradise at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Doha

We evaluated results of over 4400 documented faecal parasitological examinations between 2000 and 2007 in more than 90 individuals of six species of Birds of Paradise (BoP). Between 2000 and 2007, 83.2% of investigated samples were negative for parasites, and the number of negative samples increased consistently over the years; in positive samples, the proportion of Capillaria sp decreased (from 100% to 4.8%) and that of Coccidia sp increased (from 0% to 67.5%). Differences in prevalence of endoparasites between species, epidemiological units (houses) and sexes were found. The Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise Seleucidis melanoleuca, which has the highest reported proportion of insects in its natural diet, had the highest prevalence of tapeworms, indicating a high propensity to ingest intermediate hosts. Coccidia sp were particularly prevalent in an epidemiological unit with high exposure to free-ranging birds. The number of offspring per female and year correlated with the percentage of negative samples taken in the according year and species. The results indicate that consistent antiparasitic management leads to a reduction of parasite species; that parasites with intermediate hosts are more difficult to control; that exposure to free-ranging birds should be minimized; and that a tight antiparasitic management potentially contributes to the improved breeding success in bird species. Long-term monitoring of endoparasites in captive birds-of-paradise at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Doha P. ZERBE, C. SCHWARZ, A. DEB, R. J. BORJAL, A. ARIF, A. S. TAHA, W. J. STREICH, M. CLAUSS & S. HAMMER Clinic of Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, Doha, State of Qatar Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) Berlin, Alfred-Kowalke-Str. 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany E-mail: [email protected] Correspondence to: M. Clauss, Clinic of Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 260, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland [email protected] Right-hand running title: PARASITES IN BIRDS-OF-PARADISE Left-hand running title: THE DEVELOPING ZOO WORLD Received: 5 September 2007 ABSTRACT We evaluated results of over 4400 documented faecal parasitological examinations between 2000 and 2007 in more than 90 individuals of six species of Birds of Paradise (BoP). Between 2000 and 2007, 83.2% of investigated samples were negative for parasites, and the number of negative samples increased consistently over the years; in positive samples, the proportion of Capillaria sp decreased (from 100% to 4.8%) and that of Coccidia sp increased (from 0% to 67.5%). Differences in prevalence of endoparasites between species, epidemiological units (houses) and sexes were found. The Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise Seleucidis melanoleuca, which has the highest reported proportion of insects in its natural diet, had the highest prevalence of tapeworms, indicating a high propensity to ingest intermediate hosts. Coccidia sp were particularly prevalent in an epidemiological unit with high exposure to free-ranging birds. The number of offspring per female and year correlated with the percentage of negative samples taken in the according year and species. The results indicate that consistent antiparasitic management leads to a reduction of parasite species; that parasites with intermediate hosts are more difficult to control; that exposure to free-ranging birds should be minimized; and that a tight antiparasitic management potentially contributes to the improved breeding success in bird species.We evaluated results of over 4400 documented faecal parasitological examinations between 2000 and 2007 in more than 90 individuals of six species of Birds of Paradise (BoP). Between 2000 and 2007, 83.2% of investigated samples were negative for parasites, and the number of negative samples increased consistently over the years; in positive samples, the proportion of Capillaria sp decreased (from 100% to 4.8%) and that of Coccidia sp increased (from 0% to 67.5%). Differences in prevalence of endoparasites between species, epidemiological units (houses) and sexes were found. The Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise Seleucidis melanoleuca, which has the highest reported proportion of insects in its natural diet, had the highest prevalence of tapeworms, indicating a high propensity to ingest intermediate hosts. Coccidia sp were particularly prevalent in an epidemiological unit with high exposure to free-ranging birds. The number of offspring per female and year correlated with the percentage of negative samples taken in the according year and species. The results indicate that consistent antiparasitic management leads to a reduction of parasite species; that parasites with intermediate hosts are more difficult to control; that exposure to free-ranging birds should be minimized; and that a tight antiparasitic management potentially contributes to the improved breeding success in bird species. Key-words: breeding success, Capillaria, captivity, Coccidia, coproscopic examination, faecal samples, infestation, Paradisaeidae, Raillietina, tapeworms INTRODUCTION Birds of Paradise (BoP) have long attracted interest because of their display habits and exaggerated display plumes of adult males (Diamond, 1986). They are found in regions of eastern Indonesia, New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. Their main food consists of fruit, seeds and small insects. Differences in the diets between the species have been documented by Beehler & Pruett-Jones (1983); in particular, Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise Seleucidis melanoleuca ingest a higher proportion of insects than most other BoP species. At Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation (AWWP), Doha, six species of BoP have been kept in the time between 2000 and 2007 (Table 1). As part of a prophylactic veterinary-care programme for these animals, faecal samples are taken and investigated for parasites on a routine basis. Literature reports on the veterinary management of BoP are rare. The only report on parasites in captive BoP by Varghese (1987) documented a very high parasite infestation rate of up to 63% of all birds with coccidia and 67% of all birds with helminths in a sanctuary in Papua New Guinea. In this study, we evaluate the results of the coproscopic examinations performed between November 2000 and March 2007 in the AWWP BoP collection, thus expanding a previous evaluation of a shorter time period (Schulz et al., 2004). Although, in captivity, low mortality rates are observed even with very high parasite infestation (Varghese, 1987), parasites represent an important mortality factor: of 40 BoP casualties observed at AWWP over the years, a maximum of 12 (30%) could possibly be attributed to intestinal parasites (C. Schwarz and S. Hammer, pers. obs), and parasite infestation could have a negative influence on disease susceptibility or breeding success. We wanted to find specific patterns for the different species, bird houses (the epidemiological units) and seasons, and to demonstrate the relevance of a strict antiparasitic treatment in relation to health and breeding. MATERIALS AND METHODS AWWP is currently housing a large number of BoP individuals, including, at the beginning of 2007, 1.1 Magnificent bird-of-paradise Cicinnurus magnificus, 16.9 King bird-of-paradise Cicinnurus regius, 24.16.2 Greater bird-of-paradise Paradisaea apoda (2.2.1 hybrid, 4.5.1 from the “Mainland” and 18.9 from Aru Island), 2.3.1 Lesser bird-of-paradise Paradisaea minor, 2.2 Red bird-ofparadise Paradisaea rubra, 6.1.1 Twelve-wired bird-of-paradise S. melanoleuca, 1.3.1 Flame bowerbird Sericulus aureus and 1.1 Long-wattled umbrellabird Cephalopterus penduliger. The Flame bowerbird S. aureus and the Long-wattled umbrellabird C. penduliger were also considered in this study as they are kept in the same epidemiological units as the BoP at AWWP. The birds are kept individually or (for breeding) in pairs. All the BoP-species living in AWWP are polygamous (Diamond, 1986). Birds breed from February to June, with a peak in April. For breeding, males are brought into the females’ aviaries. The birds are kept in large wire-fenced aviaries 9 m x 5 m x 4 m high in five different houses (B15, B16, B17, B18 and B19), covered with shade net, with soil flooring and tropical vegetation, and with a small attached concrete-floored feeding cage 2 m x 2 m x 3 m high. Each house has between eight and 21 aviaries. In the last three cages of B19, a group of ground-dwelling Pheasant pigeons Otidiphaps nobilis is kept in addition to the BoP. Some surplus males not used for breeding are kept in a large free-flying-aviary (B14) with several other birds from different species. The remaining individuals are kept in quarantine-like houses (P1 and P2) with concrete flooring. To minimise disease transmission, the keepers use different footwear for each house. Since the end of 2000, faecal samples of individuals have been examined for parasites with increasing frequency until 2003 when a monthly routine screening was established. The samples were collected by the keepers from the feeding cages or, when no faeces could be found there, from the aviaries in plastic screw cap vials. The samples were directly transported to the in-house laboratory, where they were examined using standard sedimentation-flotation techniques and microscopic examination. Two to three grams of faeces, each, were used for flotation and sedimentation. For flotation, the faeces were mixed with 20 ml zinc sulphate (336 g zinc sulphate in 1000 ml distilled water) up to the brim in a flotation container, and allowed to flotate for 10–20 minutes; the flotating eggs were sampled on a microscope slide cover slip placed on top of the flotation container. For sedimentation, faeces were mixed with water and centrifuged for 5 minutes at 1350 rpm (EBA 20 centrifuge, Type 2002), and the sediment was transferred to a microscope slide. All examinations were performed by the same investigator using a Primolab Type G microscope. Findings were documented in a semi-quantitative way (0, +, ++, +++, ++++). In the present analysis, results were encoded as either positive (including all +, ++, +++, ++++) or negative (0). The parasites were identified as Capillaria sp, “other nematodes”, Raillietina sp and Coccidia sp (Eimeriidae). Birds with a positive result of “++” or higher were treated with fenbendazole, mebendazole, ivermectin, clazuril or praziquantel. The current, detailed dosing and treatment plan is given in Table 1. In the time period evaluated in this study, there were more than 4300 documented faecal sample results, which could be related to individual birds in most cases. The samples from the free-flying aviary were almost always noted as a group-sample. Additional data for the evaluation of the findings, like the number of adult males, females and newborns for every species, were taken from the AWWP stocklist management system. Data were encoded into EXCEL spreadsheets and statistically analysed applying simple non-parametric tests: the Spearman correlation coefficient (SCC) to examine a potential monotonous relationship between parasite load and breeding success and the Wilcoxon test to compare the parasite loads of males and females. The statistical tests were performed using the SPSS 15 statistical package (SPSS, Inc.). The significance level was set to α=0.05.