Parasitological survey on birds at some selected brazilian zoos

Abstract

A parasitological survey was conducted at some zoos in the states of São Paulo and Paraná, Brazil, from 2009 to 2011. Several groups of birds were surveyed for fecal samples, but the most important was Psittacidae. Among the parasites, Eimeria (coccidian) and Capillaria, Ascaridia and Heterakis (nematodes) were observed in almost one third of the samples. Presence of a rich parasite fauna associated with captive birds seems to be an effect of captivity, since data on free-ranging birds indicate few or virtually no parasites at all. The discovery of new coccidian species during this survey reveals the need of more research on the subject as even well-known bird species have unknown parasites, but caution must be exercised in order to avoid descriptions of pseudoparasites.