Management and husbandry of ruffed lemurs,Varecia variegata,at the San Diego Zoo. I. Captive population,San Diego Zoo housing and diet

The captive history of the ruffed lemur is presented with concentration on taxonomy, captive population and husbandry of the San Diego Zoo population. At the conclusion of 1985, the living population of black and white ruffed lemurs numbered 358; red ruffed lemurs totaled 125. The San Diego Zoo population, established between 1965 and 1970, began with two pairs of each subspecies. Intensive breeding at the Primate Propagation Center resulted in the birth of 135 black and white ruffed lemur infants and 95 red ruffed lemur infants as of January 7, 1986. Housing specifications are presented for the off-exhibit 96-unit breeding facility, describing enclosure size, material, nest box composition, and enclosure furniture. The diet is described, which emphasizes high-protein, high-fiber foods and leaves.     

Yersinia spp. in surface water in San Luis,Argentina

Yersinia spp. was examined in three rivers and two lakes located in the Province of San Luis, Argentina, over a 1-year period. Water samples were concentrated either by Moore's gauze technique or by filtering through diatomaceous earth. Five enrichment media: yeast extract-Bengal rose broth (YER) with bile-oxalate-sorbose broth (BOS); 67 mmol/L phosphatebuffered saline (pH 7.6; PBS); PBS enriched with 1% mannitol and 1% peptone (PBSMP); PBS with lyzed 0.5% sheep blood (PBSB); Wauters broth (W); and five plating media: Mac Conkey agar (MC);Salmonella—Shigella agar (SS); 5% sheep blood agar (BA); lactose-sucrose-urea agar (LSU) and irgasan-novobiocin agar (IN) were used. The following strains were isolated:Y. intermedia B1 O:4,32–4,33 Lis Xz (four strains),Y. intermedia B1 O:57 Lis Xo (one strain),Y. intermedia B2 0:57 Lis Xo (one strain),Y. enterocolitica B1 O:10–34 Lis Xz (one strain), andY. frederiksenii undetermined biovar, O:16–16,29 Lis Xz (two strains). The incidence of isolation ofYersinia spp. was 7.14%. YER-BOS proved to be the best enrichment method since it allowed the highest recovering ofYersinia spp. strains. Among plating media, the best results were obtained with MC. Apparently, the isolation ofYersinia spp. can be related to environmental variables such as temperature differences between cold and warm seasons. Negative results obtained during virulence assays suggest that isolated strains lack the pathogenic potential against man.     

Abstracts presented at ISSOL '99, July 1999, San Diego,California, U.S.A.

Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres -