Ep 45 Dr Francis Cabana on zoo nutrition, the importance of body condition scoring research and sharing knowledge
May 29, 2021
Dr Francis Cabana is the Assistant Director of Zoology & Wildlife Nutritionist at Wildlife Reserve Singapore and holds an Adjunct Lecturer position at Temasek Polytechnic, and shares his experiences working in different zoo’s and how he found his love for studying wildlife nutrition.
Francis shares how his love for animals started at an incredibly young age, and how his “best mistake” in his life was not having high enough grades to attend vet school. He went on to get his degree in zoology before moving between different zoos and obtaining his MSc and PhD in the UK.
Francis was soon offered an internship in zoo nutrition at Paignton Zoo with his mentor Dr Amy Ploughman. Francis notes that this internship was amazing and that he got to use his knowledge and experiences from research in the wild. Eventually, he became involved with the zoological community and zoos associations.
Francis shares how important bi-weekly body condition scoring is and to weigh animals where possible. He dives deeper into the details of metabolism and on the different digestive systems for different species. As all animals and organisations are different, he stresses that how one size does not fit all.
Francis and Sabrina talk about how Francis became the first-ever wildlife nutritionist at Wildlife Reserve Singapore. Francis explains how he had to try and organise 16,000 different animal diets which did not exist before and the struggle of how hard it is to be a zoo nutritionist as this position is quite rare.
Francis gives us a sneak peek into his current research on Sifakas nutrition and tells us about his research on Red Panda’s and their multicoloured faeces.
Francis shares some of the challenges of providing the appropriate diet to animals in zoos, due to food availability, geographical areas, and whether, therefore, the importance of focusing on needed and key nutrients rather than specific items necessarily.
Francis concludes the podcast with an amazing story involving penguins.
Francis shares how his love for animals started at an incredibly young age, and how his “best mistake” in his life was not having high enough grades to attend vet school. He went on to get his degree in zoology before moving between different zoos and obtaining his MSc and PhD in the UK.
Francis was soon offered an internship in zoo nutrition at Paignton Zoo with his mentor Dr Amy Ploughman. Francis notes that this internship was amazing and that he got to use his knowledge and experiences from research in the wild. Eventually, he became involved with the zoological community and zoos associations.
Francis shares how important bi-weekly body condition scoring is and to weigh animals where possible. He dives deeper into the details of metabolism and on the different digestive systems for different species. As all animals and organisations are different, he stresses that how one size does not fit all.
Francis and Sabrina talk about how Francis became the first-ever wildlife nutritionist at Wildlife Reserve Singapore. Francis explains how he had to try and organise 16,000 different animal diets which did not exist before and the struggle of how hard it is to be a zoo nutritionist as this position is quite rare.
Francis gives us a sneak peek into his current research on Sifakas nutrition and tells us about his research on Red Panda’s and their multicoloured faeces.
Francis shares some of the challenges of providing the appropriate diet to animals in zoos, due to food availability, geographical areas, and whether, therefore, the importance of focusing on needed and key nutrients rather than specific items necessarily.
Francis concludes the podcast with an amazing story involving penguins.
Read more about the body condition score HERE
Read more on Dr Francis Cabanas work HERE
Read more about the Giant Panda microbiome HERE
Read more on Dr Francis Cabanas work HERE
Read more about the Giant Panda microbiome HERE
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