Feeding exotic animals is often very challenging. There are few publications quantifying nutrient requirements of exotic animals, thus data collected in domesticated species must be applied to exotic animal nutrition. This application is often the most appropriate starting point for feeding exotic animals, but is associated with substantial limitations as well. For example, exotic animals are generally maintained with the desire for health and reproductive success, as opposed to rapid production of meat, milk, eggs or fiber, for which nutrient requirements of their domestic counterparts have been quantified. Indeed, in some situations with exotic animals, the desire is to not permit maximum weight gain for proper development (for instance, long legged birds for which rapid growth may compromise skeletal integrity). In addition to data from domesticated species, field studies which have examined the wild-type diet of exotic animals can provide valuable information about the diet to which they are adapted. However, important considerations regarding these data include the absolute limitation on field biologists to accurately quantify food intake, and the (often) dramatic disparity in energy requirements of captive animals maintained in relatively smaller enclosures, often with temperature regulation of their environment, as compared to wild animals with much more expansive environmental ranges and challenges. Understanding the digestive anatomy and physiology of an exotic animal can also provide insight as to the type of dietary food items the animal is adapted to procure, but often these data are limited as well. Together, this information can be used to develop diets that may be offered to captive exotics, with the goal of maximizing animal health and reproductive status. One recent example of this type of application is the use of reduced dietary starch levels when feeding captive exotic herbivores, most notably captive exotic ruminants.
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