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Forage Resources, Nutrition, and Food Supply of Free-Grazing Camels (Сamelus bactrianus) in a Pasture within the Natural Steppe Zone

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Abstract—This paper reports the results of investigation on the food of free-grazing Bactrian camels in a forb–grass steppe pasture, including anthropogenically disturbed areas with dominance of ruderal annuals. We identified the composition of consumed plants using a microhistological analysis of the feces; the digestibility coefficient based on inert (indigestible) silicon contained both in the diet and feces; the quantity of the forage consumed based on the mass of the feces and the digestibility coefficient; and the energy balance based on interrelations between the actual consumption and the existing requirement norms of camels and wild ungulates in energy. In spring, camels mainly consume graminoids (Stipa sp. and Festuca valesiaca), switching to forbs, largely ruderal annuals, in summer and autumn. The forage digestibility is low in spring (56%), increasing to 69–70% in summer and autumn. Low daily consumption rates of dry forage mass in winter and spring (8–9 kg) are changed to high in summer and autumn (20–26 kg), this reflecting the animals’ winter hypophagy. The amount of energy received during the warm season (1.2–1.8 MJ/kg W 0.75) considerably exceeds the requirements, thus explaining the ability of camels to accumulate a safety store of fat in the humps.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to V.I. Dan’kov, L.V. Klets, and A.D. Lipkovich for organizing and logistic support of the investigations; E.S. Strel’tsova for successful completion of the cuticle–coprological analysis of the plant composition grazed by animals; and A.G. Bashinskaya and K.S. Martsokha, students of Saratov State University, for their assistance in conducting the field research.

This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 15-04-03542.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    B. D. Abaturov

  2. Rostov State Nature Reserve, 347510, pos. Orlovskii, Orlovskii raion, Rostov oblast, Russia

    V. D. Kazmin

  3. Kalmykian State University, 358000, Elista, Kalmykia, Russia

    R. R. Dzhapova, E. Ch. Ayusheva, V. V. Dzhapova & D. V. Nokhaeva

  4. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    M. P. Kolesnikov

  5. Southern Federal University, 344006, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    V. A. Minoranskiy

  6. The “Wildlife of the Steppe” Association, 344011, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    Yu. E. Kuznetsov

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  1. B. D. Abaturov
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  2. V. D. Kazmin
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  3. R. R. Dzhapova
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  4. E. Ch. Ayusheva
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  5. V. V. Dzhapova
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  6. D. V. Nokhaeva
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  7. M. P. Kolesnikov
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  9. Yu. E. Kuznetsov
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Correspondence to B. D. Abaturov.

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Conflict of interests. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Statement on the welfare of animals. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Translated by E. Kuznetsova

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Abaturov, B.D., Kazmin, V.D., Dzhapova, R.R. et al. Forage Resources, Nutrition, and Food Supply of Free-Grazing Camels (Сamelus bactrianus) in a Pasture within the Natural Steppe Zone. Biol Bull Russ Acad Sci 45, 961–972 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359018090029

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