Bacterial composition along the digestive tract of the Horned Screamer (), a tropical herbivorous bird.

Background: The Horned Screamer is an herbivorous bird that inhabits wetlands of the South American tropical region. We hypothesize that due to its herbivorous niche, its digestive tract compartments may have bacteria specialized in fermenting complex plant carbohydrates. To test this hypothesis, we compared the bacterial communities along the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of a Horned Screamer captured in Venezuela.

Oral and Cloacal Helicobacter Detection in Wild and Captive Orinoco Crocodiles (Crocodylus intermedius) in Venezuela.

Helicobacter species can colonize digestive tract of animals and humans and have been associated with gastrointestinal diseases; however, this genus has not been studied in crocodiles. Our objective was to detect by PCR Helicobacter genus and Helicobacter pylori in oral and cloacal swabs from Orinoco crocodiles of two wild (Cojedes River System and Capanaparo River) and two captive breeding centers (CBCs; Masaguaral Ranch and UNELLEZ) populations. Bacterial DNA was found in 100% of oral samples (10 wild and 10 captives), and in the 95% of cloacal samples (10 wild and 9 captives).