Cody Raney
Well-Known Member
Why do Moose have such short lifespans in captivity?
Moose
- Thread starter Cody Raney
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One of the reasons is their natural diet is difficult to replicate in captivity. Diets of grass or legume hays and grain have resulted in enteritis and chronic diarrhea/wasting disease. The development of wood-fibre diets are an improvement, but do not completely prevent chronic wasting.
Heat stress is another reason, with most sources agreeing 17-24 C is when Moose start to experience heat stress.
Wisp O' Mist
Well-Known Member
Chronic wasting disease doesn't have anything to do with diet...???
Chronic wasting disease - Wikipedia
filovirus
Well-Known Member
It's true that CWD can become a really big problem in captive cervidae populations but this has practically nothing to do with diet and is pretty exclusively an issue among cervidae breeding operations which keep large herds in a confined area. In these populations CWD is introduced by adding an infected member to the herd, contaminated wild sources of food/water (as in the water source or food source is already contaminated and from the wild), and the presence of an infected carcass.
For a cervidae in captive situations pertaining to this forum- that is, zoo populations- CWD is functionally a nonissue. I know of precisely one CWD outbreak in zoos and it was at the Toronto Zoo. The original infected deer was imported from the Denver Zoo, and contact tracing indicates that Denver Zoo was introduced to CWD via deer imported from the original Colorado government research facility where CWD was discovered. Source for that here, PDF page 7.
Captive diet very well may be part of it, and wasting issues may be part of it, but chronic wasting disease is not diet-related and I see absolutely no reason why it would contribute large-scale to short lifespans of moose in captivity.
For a cervidae in captive situations pertaining to this forum- that is, zoo populations- CWD is functionally a nonissue. I know of precisely one CWD outbreak in zoos and it was at the Toronto Zoo. The original infected deer was imported from the Denver Zoo, and contact tracing indicates that Denver Zoo was introduced to CWD via deer imported from the original Colorado government research facility where CWD was discovered. Source for that here, PDF page 7.
Captive diet very well may be part of it, and wasting issues may be part of it, but chronic wasting disease is not diet-related and I see absolutely no reason why it would contribute large-scale to short lifespans of moose in captivity.
Cody Raney
Well-Known Member
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium have 3 Alaska Moose, 1 male and 2 females, and they seem to be doing quite well. They were orphaned calves and came to the zoo in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
I believe there has been better understanding and improvement to their dietary needs which has boosted success. However much like Pronghorn, Moose do not seem to do very well on getting too far removed from their native range. Whether there is a concrete understanding on that issue I do not know.