![]() ![]() "In other words, microbial communities in the gut microbiome change predictably as animals age from juveniles to subadults to adults. "We found differences between rhinos in each age group," says Erin McKenney, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of applied ecology at NC State. The researchers extracted and sequenced DNA from the fecal samples, which allowed them to identify the diversity and abundance of bacteria in the gut of the study animals. "We wanted to have a robust sample size that would allow us to assess the gut microbiome of females in this species while accounting for age, the time of year and reproductive status," Burnham says. The study population consisted of two juveniles two "subadults" who are no longer nursing but are not yet of reproductive age two adults who have reproduced successfully and two adults who have not reproduced successfully. ![]() To that end, the researchers collected multiple fecal samples from eight female southern white rhinoceroses over a six-month period. We wanted to know how the gut microbiome may influence the reproductive ability of these rhinos." It is critical we understand why, as the managed rhinos serve as important assurance populations in case wild rhino numbers continue to fall. "There is a significant population of southern white rhinos under human care in the United States, but there have been challenges in getting many of these animals to reproduce successfully. The paper, "Effects of Age, Seasonality, and Reproductive Status on the Gut Microbiome of Southern White Rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum) at the North Carolina Zoo," is published in the open access journal Animal Microbiome. "Our work focuses on the southern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum simum), because while it is not yet endangered, species numbers are declining in the wild due to poaching," says Christina Burnham, first author of a paper on the work and a former graduate student at NC State. ![]()
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