Abstract
Identifying disease trends amongst different species has indisputable value to veterinary clinicians and zoo managers for improving the welfare and management of zoo species. There are no published cross-institutional, multi-species studies identifying mortality trends in captive gazelle species, with the exception of reports from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.2-4 The causes of death for eight different species (addra gazelle, Nanger dama; dorcas gazelle, Gazella dorcas; Grant’s gazelle, Nanger granti; sand gazelle, Gazella leptoceros; Saudi goitered gazelle, Gazella subgutturosa; Soemmerring’s gazelle, Nanger soemmerringii; Thomson’s gazelle, Eudorcas thomsonii; and Speke’s gazelle, Gazella spekei) are presented from a 16-yr period (1996–2012). The leading cause of death for all species was trauma, followed by bronchopneumonia, and failure to thrive/maternal neglect. Chronic nephritis and rumenitis/abomasitis/enteritis were common concurrent lesions across all species. On average, female gazelle lived twice as long as male gazelle, with an average an average overall survival time of 6.7 yr. Dorcas, Thomson’s and addra gazelle females had the longest average survival time (8–13 yr). Calves up to 6 mo of age died most frequently from failure of passive transfer or maternal neglect. Thyroid carcinoma was a trend in Thomson’s gazelle but not other species. Sand and Speke’s gazelle frequently died from systemic amyloidosis, while Saudi goitered gazelle also had a high prevalence of secondary amyloidosis. Hematuria syndrome1 was the second most common cause of death in Grant’s gazelle. The majority of lesions identified in this study may be preventable with appropriate management.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank all US zoos that contributed data to this project.
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