Notes:
Could the lack of a key amino acid contribute to metabolic bone disease in captive polar bear cubs? Thanks to funding from Polar Bears International and the University of Tennessee, an action plan is underway.
The problem of metabolic bone disease was well-publicized in 1994 when the Denver Zoo bottle-fed two polar bear cubs, Klondike and Snow, after they were abandoned by their mother. Both cubs developed rickets, leading zoo veterinarian David Kenny to give them an injection of Vitamin D and modify their diet. Kenny later analyzed serum and milk from wild polar bears and discovered that it contained large amounts of Vitamin D. New research shows that taurine, an amino acid, may play an important role in allowing that vitamin to be absorbed.
"Studies have shown that taurine-free formulas fed to human infants have led to Vitamin D deficiencies with nutritional rickets," says lead researcher Gail Hedberg, RVT, of the San Francisco Zoo.
These findings--and the presence of rickets, fractures and poor bone density in captive polar bears--led Hedberg and her co-researchers, Freeland Dunker, DVM, of the San Francisco Zoo and Russell Chesney, MD, of LeBonheur Children's Medical Center at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, to examine whether a lack of taurine could lead to metabolic bone disease in captive polar bears.
Findings from this research will help zoos further understand the importance of taurine in zoo carnivores.