Zoo Medicine: Herd Health, Immobilization, and Captive Population Management
Core concepts
Zoo medicine questions test whether you can think at the level of the collection, not just the individual animal. Candidates must understand: (1) quarantine and pre-shipment testing, (2) preventive medicine calendars (vaccination, fecal surveillance, TB testing in primates and hoofstock), (3) remote chemical immobilization pharmacology and monitoring, and (4) captive breeding genetics, including founder representation and inbreeding coefficients.
Know the classic drug combinations and their reversals: alpha-2 agonists (medetomidine, detomidine, xylazine) paired with ketamine or a cyclohexamine, reversed with atipamezole or yohimbine; opioid combinations (etorphine, thiafentanil, carfentanil) reversed with naltrexone or diprenorphine. Understand species-specific sensitivity - elephants are exquisitely sensitive to opioids and prone to recumbency complications; giraffes are difficult to induce because of long necks and risk of regurgitation/aspiration; equids tolerate alpha-2s but camelids are prone to regurgitation and bloat.
Traps
Questions love to test reversal timing (do not reverse an alpha-2 before the ketamine effect wanes, or the animal may re-sedate or become excited), thermoregulation in the field (hyperthermia in pursuit, hypothermia in small primates), and capture myopathy. Another trap: confusing population-level inbreeding management with individual treatment.
Worked example / rule of thumb
Rule of thumb: "Monitor the three H's - heart, heat, hydration." In any immobilization, plan for a monitoring interval of every 5 minutes for pulse, respiratory rate, temperature, and oxygenation. If a hoofstock animal's temperature exceeds ~40.5 °C (105 °F) during a summer capture, prioritize cooling and shortening the procedure over completing every sample.
Exam strategy
When a stem describes a species-specific complication, the answer usually addresses preventing that complication (positioning, fasting, oxygen supplementation), not treating it after it occurs.