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Food and vitamin A intakes of captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

Norio Tokita, Miki Eguchi, Masakatsu Suzuki and Teruaki Tokita

We determined food and vitamin A intakes of four captive adult female bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at Shinagawa Aquarium, Tokyo, Japan. Animals were fed a fish diet composed of Pacific saury, Pacific mackerel, Japanese sardine, arabesque greenling and capelin, which was augmented with vitamin tablets. Average body weight of the animals was 198.8 ± 19.2 kg through the experimental period from July to September 2012. Mean intakes of dry matter, and crude protein and fat, expressed as metabolic body size (g/BW0.75/day), were 42.0 g, 22.6 g and 13.7 g, respectively, with a combined vitamin A intake (mg/BW0.75/day) of 3.1 mg. Our results provide useful for understanding requirement and daily level of vitamin A for feeding captive adult female bottlenose dolphins