Abstract

The Tricahue or Patagonian conure (Cyanoliseus patagonus byroni) is a native psittacine species of Chile that is considered endangered and is listed in the red book of terrestrial vertebrates of Chile. There are just three colonies living in captivity in Chile, and only one of them, which lives in the National Zoo in Chile, is actively reproductive. Little is known about its biology, therefore, populations in captivity must be studied in order to promote its conservation.

Cloacal and choanal swabs were collected from 23 healthy Patagonian conures living in captivity at the National Zoo in Chile for culture stain in two seasons of 2000, winter and spring. The samples were cultured and stained in order to determine the normal flora (bacteria and fungus) in the cloaca and choana of the birds. Of 192 strains identified, most were gram-positive bacteria (Table 1) from both the cloaca and choana. The most frequent bacteria cultured in both cloaca and choana was Staphylococcus epidermidis (Tables 2, 3). As other psittacine birds, Patagonian conures have mostly gram-positive bacteria in the choana and cloaca.

Table 1. Total strains founded in cloaca and choana

Table 2. Samples from the choana

Table 3. Samples from the cloaca

Twenty-four taxa of fungus were found: 13 filamentous and 11 yeast. In the choana, the most frequent fungus isolated were Pichia sp. and Aspergillus sp., whereas in cloaca Aspergillus sp. and Penicillium sp. were more commonly identified (Table 4).

Table 4. Frequency of fungus species present in the choana and cloaca