The Study On The Normal Intestinal Microflora Of The Giant Panda Returned To Wild And The Giant Panda In Captivity

A comparative study of the intestinal microflora's variety and number of one young Giant panda returned to wild and 3 young Giant pandas in captivity in China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, Wolong Sichuan has been made by normal germiculture and identification. 14 species were identified. They were Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes , Proteus , Salmonella, Yersinia enterocolitica, Streptococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus sp., Bacillus sp., Yeasts, Lactobacillus,Bacteroides,Bifidobacterium, Veillonella parvula and Campylobacter jejuni.The study also found that the predominant intestinal florae of Giant panda returned to wild and Giant panda in captivity were enterobacteria, enterococcus and lactobacillus. Among these species, Escherichia coli had the highest detection rate which is 100% followed by Streptococcus faecalis with 97.2%, Lactobacillus with 88.9% and Enterobacter aerogenes with 72%. The others' detection rates were low and the sequence was Yersinia enterocolitica, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Proteus, Salmonella, Yeasts, Bifidobacterium, Campylobacter jejuni, Veillonella parvula and Bacteroides.The normal intestinal microfiora of the Giant Panda in captivity changed little during the study. Compared with the Giant panda in captivity, the predominantintestinal florae of Giant panda returned to wild were still enterobacteria(Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus, Salmonella, Yersinia enterocolitica), enterococcus(Streptococcus faecalis) and lactobacillus after Giant Panda had been returned to wild for a week. But the quantity and distribution of the species started to change: the number of enterococcus increased while the number of enterobacteria and lactobacillus decreased. At the end of the study, enterococcus was more than enterobacteria. Another discovery was that the detection rates of Bacillus and Yeasts of the Giant panda returned to wild were high that were 60% and 40%.The above-mentioned results suggest that when the Giant panda in captivity were returned to wild, it's constitution of the food menu were changed from the well-fed provisions to the bamboo lacking in nutrition. As microecology indicates, the intestinal microecological balance will fluctuate physiologically when the constitution of food menu changed a lot. The number of enterococcus increased when the Giant panda returned to wild had ate much more bamboo. The rise of enterococcus would in favor of the digestion of the fibrous food. The bad sanitation of wild environment resulted in the rise of the detection rate of Bacillus and Yeasts.Our research results provide first-hand data of intestinal florae changes of Giant panda returned to wild for the project to return Giant pandas to the wild launched by China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, Wolong Sichuan. Necessary measures like food menu arrangement for the Giant panda returned to wild suviving food-shift period are also based on the research data.