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Lories and lorikeets are popular birds in the pet bird trade, captured from the wild and exported worldwide. Their captive propagation has not been so successful for many species due to health issues, low breeding success and reduced longevity. As a result, uptake from the wild is currently the only way to meet the market's demand. Field studies on Asian species of loris and lorikeets are limited; therefore, dietary recommendations are based on the well‐studied Australian species such as the rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus). We aimed to provide an ad libitum diet to diverse Loriinae species at Jurong Bird Park (Singapore) which allowed for them to select between a low and moderate protein diet to compare their nutrient and energy intake with other Loriinae species. We measured the following variables: daily dry matter (DM) intake, nectar‐to‐fruit energy intake ratio (NF ratio), metabolisable energy (ME), protein and non‐protein energy (NPE)‐to‐protein energy (PE) ratio intake (all by kg metabolic body weight MBW, kg0.75) for 36 pairs over a 1‐month period. A Kruskal–Wallis test revealed every genus had significantly different intakes of DM, NF ratio, NPE‐to‐PE ratio, ME and protein than each other. Post hoc Mann–Whitney U tests confirmed that the majority of variables were ingested in different amounts for each genus except for NF ratio, NPE/PE ratio which Lorius spp. are not different to Charmosyna sp. or Trichoglossus spp. and protein intake of Eos spp. does not differ from Trichoglossus spp. Our conclusion is that no species should be used as a model for a species from another genus of Loriinae; future studies should be species‐specific for each genus to increase captive propagation success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient mechanisms of glucose absorption are necessary for volant animals as a means of reducing mass during flight: they speed up gut transit time and require smaller volume and mass of gut tissue. One mechanism that may be important is absorption via paracellular (non-mediated) pathways. This may be particularly true for nectarivorous species which encounter large quantities of sugar in their natural diet. We investigated the extent of mediated and non-mediated glucose absorption in red wattlebirds Anthochaera carunculata (Meliphagidae) and rainbow lorikeets Trichoglossus haematodus (Loriidae) to test the hypothesis that paracellular uptake accounts for a significant proportion of total glucose uptake in these species. We found that routes of glucose absorption are highly dynamic in both species. In lorikeets, absorption of L-glucose (non-mediated uptake) is slower than that of 0-glucose (mediated and non-mediated uptake), with as little as 10% of total glucose absorbed by the paracellular pathway initially (contrasting previous indirect estimates of -80%). Over time, however, more glucose may be absorbed via the paracellular route. Glucose absorption by both mediated and non-mediated mechanisms in wattlebirds occurred at a faster rate than in lorikeets, and wattlebirds also rely substantially on paracellular uptake. In wattlebirds, we recorded higher bioavailability of L-glucose (96±3%) compared with D-glucose (57±2%), suggesting problems with the in vivo use of radiolabeled D-glucose. Further trials with 3-O-methyl-D-glucose revealed high bioavailability in wattlebirds (90±5%). This non-metabolisable glucose analogue remains the probe of choice for measuring uptake rates in vivo, especially in birds in which absorption and metabolism occur extremely rapidly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background -- Rainbow lorikeets are nectarivorous birds whose natural diet is low in protein and relatively high in free amino acids. Protein metabolisability (PM) of egg white (EW) protein is lower in rainbow lorikeets (6.9%) than whole egg protein in white leghorn roosters (13.9%). Objective -- (1) To determine whether PM of other sources of protein fed to lorikeets is higher than that of EW. (2) To compare the general proteolytic activity (GPA) (pepsin) of the proventriculus of the rainbow lorikeet and a granivorous bird, the domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus L. Design -- (1) Five lorikeets were fed one of three diets, an EW diet, an EW and casein hydrolysate (CH) diet and a commercial "lorikeet and honeyeater" (L/H) feed (Wombaroo Food Products, Glen Osmond, SA). Lorikeets were kept in metabolism cages for 3d for feed intake measurements and excreta collection. Samples were freeze dried and analysed for nitrogen. (2) The GPA of the proventriculus of three lorikeets and three chickens was measured using haemoglobin as a substrate. Outcomes -- (1) The PM (mean ± SD, n = 5) was 4.3 ± 2.6% for the EW diet, 5.6 ± 2.5% for the EW/CH diet and 7.3 ± 3.2% for the L/H feed. The PM for the EW diet was not significantly different from the EW/CH diet and L/H feed (P>0.05). (2) The GPA of the proventriculus of lorikeets at pH 1.0 was significantly lower (P<0.01) than that of the chicken at each incubation period. Conclusions -- (1) The results of the feeding experiments with lorikeets confirm that PM of artificial protein sources is low. (2) The GPA of the proventriculus of lorikeets is lower than that of the chicken. This may contribute to the low PM by lorikeets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]