Gut microbiota are essential to nutrient metabolism and the maintenance of hindgut health. The characterization of faecal bacterial communities from healthy individuals is important for the establishment of baseline data that can be compared to periods of gut dysbiosis. Diet is a key determinant of the faecal microbial community structure and generation of volatile fatty acids, a main energy source for the host. While rhinoceroses are herbivores, black rhinoceroses are browsers and white rhinoceroses are grazers. The objective of our study was to characterize and compare diets, faecal bacterial communities, nutrients and metabolites between and amongst Southern white rhinoceroses and Southern black rhinoceroses (n = 3 rhinos/species) managed at Disney's Animal Kingdom^®. Faecal bacterial communities were similar between individual white rhinos and dissimilar between species and individual black rhinos. Faecal butyrate and propionate molar proportions and concentrations were greater in black rhinos than white rhinos, whereas lactate was greater in white rhinos. The Shannon diversity, total operational taxonomic units, and relative abundance of Firmicutes were greater in white than black rhinos. The relative abundance of Proteobacteria in faeces from black rhinos was 3-fold greater than from white rhinos. One black rhino had a greater relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia (7.45 ± 1.31%) than all other individual rhinos (0.01–1.37%). White rhinoceroses demonstrated similar abundances of bacterial phyla and communities between one another and by individual, while black rhinoceroses were more dissimilar by individual. The dissimilarities between black rhinos were suspected to be due to total diet consumption variability, including browse diversity, and lack of direct contact. In contrast, the white rhinos commingled (i.e. nose-to-nose contact) and consumed similar amounts of hay, pellets and training items. These results suggest that species-specific diets and the individual contribute to differences in faecal bacterial communities, nutrients and metabolites between black and white rhinos housed at the same institution.

中文翻译：

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物种和个体犀牛影响管理护理下南方黑犀牛 (Diceros bicornis minor) 和南方白犀牛 (Ceratotherium simum simum) 粪便中的细菌群落、代谢物和营养成分

肠道微生物群对营养代谢和维持后肠健康至关重要。健康个体粪便细菌群落的特征对于建立可与肠道菌群失调时期进行比较的基线数据非常重要。饮食是粪便微生物群落结构和挥发性脂肪酸生成的关键决定因素，挥发性脂肪酸是宿主的主要能量来源。虽然犀牛是食草动物，但黑犀牛是浏览器，白犀牛是食草动物。 我们研究的目的是描述和比较迪斯尼动物王国管理的南方白犀牛和南方黑犀牛（n = 3 只犀牛/物种）^之间的饮食、粪便细菌群落、营养物质和代谢物。. 个体白犀牛之间的粪便细菌群落相似，而物种和个体黑犀牛之间的粪便细菌群落不同。黑犀牛粪便中丁酸盐和丙酸盐的摩尔比例和浓度高于白犀牛，而白犀牛的乳酸更高。白犀牛的香农多样性、总操作分类单位和厚壁菌门的相对丰度高于黑犀牛。黑犀牛粪便中变形菌的相对丰度是白犀牛的 3 倍。一头黑犀牛的疣微菌相对丰度（7.45 ± 1.31%）比所有其他个体犀牛（0.01-1.37%）都要高。白犀牛在个体之间和个体之间表现出相似的细菌门和群落丰度，而黑犀牛的个体差异更大。黑犀牛之间的差异被怀疑是由于总的饮食消费变化，包括浏览多样性，以及缺乏直接接触。相比之下，白犀牛混合在一起（即鼻子对鼻子的接触）并消耗相似数量的干草、颗粒和训练用品。这些结果表明，特定物种的饮食和个体导致了同一机构饲养的黑犀牛和白犀牛之间粪便细菌群落、营养物质和代谢物的差异。