Valores Hematológicos y Bioquímica Sanguínea en Osos Hormigueros Gigantes ( Myrmecophaga tridactyla ) Cautivos en Argentina

Abstract

Hematological and blood chemistry reference values are key for the clinical assessment and health management of threatened and endangered species. The present study was performed due to the scarce and dispersed information on these topics for Myrmecophaga tridactyla. Hematological and biochemical values were obtained for 30 healthy captive individuals (16 males, 14 females) of M. tridactyla housed at different zoological institutions in Argentina. The assays performed included packed cell volume, white blood cell, red blood cell, haemoglobin, MCV, MCH, and MCHC. Serum chemistry included 27 assays. Although most of these variables showed statistically significant differences (P<0.05) with published reference values, these differences do not seem to be of clinical significance. No statistically significant differences were found between sexes except for lipase and triglycerides, the median value of lipase being lower (P=0.0195) and the median value for triglycerides higher (P=0.0057) in females than in males.