What type of diet caused starvation in captive Western Kingbirds during rescue efforts?
Answer
Meat-based diet (pureed beef heart)
A critical lesson learned by wildlife rehabilitation professionals concerns the inherent nutritional requirements of strict insectivores like the Western Kingbird. An unfortunate case study revealed that feeding a long-standing, meat-based diet, which included elements such as pureed beef heart, crushed calcium, and commercial baby food, resulted in severe negative outcomes including starvation, defeathering, and ultimately death. This demonstrated that mammalian or processed, high-fat/low-insect diets are nutritionally incomplete, as they lack the crucial profile of protein, chitin, and essential nutrients uniquely provided by the exoskeletons and varied tissues of whole insects.
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