The milk was collected from one South American Tapir (Tapirus terrestris) bred at Kyoto city zoo, at pre and some days post delivery at two delivery cases and the milk compositions were determined. At one delivery in 2014, total protein concentrations (g/dl) were determined by dry chemistry method and the frequency numbers were counted per a day, while at another delivery in 2017, the concentrations of protein lipid, carbohydrate and ash were determined in the samples collected at pre and early stage of lactation. In a case of the delivery in 2014, the frequency numbers of the suckling tended to decrease after three weeks from the delivery with the development of the neonate, and the total protein concentration tended to increase 196 days post delivery, when the lactation was almost finalized. The milk compositions in the sample collected one day pre partum in 2017 was follows; 20.1 g/dl protein, 1.8 g/dl lipid, 2.9 g/dl carbohydrate, 0.7 g/dl ash. These values are similar to those in the milk of wild horse that have been published previously as follows: 18.06% protein, 1.7% lipid, 1.53% carbohydrate. Furthermore, during the first 5 months from the delivery, suckling occurred 6 to 18 times per day, and the frequency of suckling tended to be higher at night when the keepers were not present, which is related to the activity of the South American Tapir, which is considered crepuscular or nocturnal.

 The compositions were determined for a grevyi zebra's milk, bred at Kyoto city zoo, at around 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 month post partum. The change of the concentrations of lipid, protein, carbohydrate and ash was small during the lactation, and calculated as 1.9±0.55% (average±standard deviation), 1.7±0.22%, 6.3±0.57%, and 0.3±0.06%, respectively. The concentration of protein decreased during the course of lactation, and that of carbohydrate decreased until 5 month, while that of lipid decreased from 2 to 5 month post partum. The concentrations of lipid and protein were smaller than those in bovine milk, while that of carbohydrate was higher than that in bovine milk. The composition was similar to those of horse and donkey, which are closely related animal species.

 Milk samples were collected from the animals of some Cetaartiodactyla, Bovidae species [one animal of scimitar oryx (Oryx) and addax (Addax), two animals of bharal (Pseudois), one animal of markhor (Capra), three animals of sitatunga (Tragelaphus), and one animal of eland (Taurotragus)], which were bred at Himeji Central Park. Among them, the milks were collected at different days of lactation from each one animal of addax, bharal, sitatunga and eland. The concentration of protein in colostra of scimitar oryx and eland was high as similar to that of cows, while that of sitatunga was rather similar in colostrum and mature milk. The protein concentrations in the mature milks were rather higher in these species than those of domestic dairy animals (cows, goats and sheep). It was likely that the concentrations of lipids varied largely in milks of different animals and different lactation days even in same species; this variation was likely to be larger than those in domestic dairy animals. From the obtained data, it was suggested that the patterns of the variation of milk compositions during the lactation were different among these species and also from those of the domestic dairy animals, even though the tendency of increasing of carbohydrate concentration is likely to be common among the species.

Information from Secretariats